Indianapolis business officials will hunt for an Asian cargo airline to fly a nonstop, heavy-freight route to Indianapolis during a trade mission to Asia that departs today.

In Japan, mainland China and Taiwan, officials from the Indy Partnership and BAA Indianapolis will make their pitch that it's faster, cheaper and more convenient to fly cargo to Indianapolis than to Chicago or other cities.

Landing such cargo service would give Indianapolis a bridge over which companies could swap high-value goods -- such as electronics, pharmaceuticals and medical devices -- with the world's fastest-growing region.

"Air cargo lift is the feather in the cap of economic development," said Kirk Lovell, air service director at BAA Indianapolis, which manages Indianapolis International Airport.

Lovell and Gordon Hendry, interim president of the Indy Partnership, will jointly represent Indianapolis to Nippon Cargo in Japan, Air China Cargo and Hainan Airlines and other cargo airlines. Indy Partnership is an economic development group for all of Central Indiana.

Hendry and Lovell are two of 20 Hoosiers going to Asia on the trade mission. Mayors and economic development officials from Central and Southern Indiana will spend a week in Japan. Communities sending representatives include Bloomington, Greensburg, Seymour, Shelbyville and Tell City.

Key on the delegation's agenda is to jockey for deals with auto suppliers that serve Honda Motor Co. The Japanese automaker committed this year to build a new auto assembly plant near Greensburg in 2008.

The delegation will meet with Honda officials and try to learn more about its supplier network and needs, Hendry said.

"We have had just a tremendous year for Japanese investment in the state of Indiana," said Hendry, noting Toyota Motor Corp.'s decision to build sedans in Lafayette. "We're really following up on all of that in this mission to Japan."

Only Hendry and Lovell will go on to China. They also will travel to Taiwan, where an electronics manufacturer is considering a new plant in Indiana.

But the freight flights are most significant because they could provide a service that helps boost and attract scores of companies around Indianapolis.

Nonstop cargo flights from Asia to the Midwest are not yet feasible. But massive new planes -- Airbus' A380 and Boeing's 747-800 -- could do it when they enter service a few years from now.

FedEx Corp., which has one of its two national hubs in Indianapolis, has said it will one day bring the A380 here, possibly on an Indianapolis-to-Asia route.

But FedEx specializes in small packages. BAA Indianapolis wants a heavy-freight carrier that will fill half a plane with one customer's goods.

Hendry said the Indy Partnership wants to duplicate the success Indianapolis had with Cargolux. The Luxembourg-based cargo carrier launched nonstop flights to Indianapolis in April, serving Roche Diagnostics in Indianapolis. In July, it added a second flight.