Air India Cargo (AIC) may soon withdraw its cargo operations on the Mumbai-Paris route. Instead, it is likely to deploy its two freight aircraft in South East Asian sectors like Hong Kong and Singapore.

AIC sources said carriers like Air France and Lufthansa offer cheaper rates than AIC for cargo to Europe. It is learnt that the charges for uplifting cargo by the rival freighter aircraft on the Paris-Mumbai route is less than EUR30 (US$44.5) per kg, which is almost 25 percent lower than what AIC charges to its customers on the route.

P.K. Gupta, executive director, cargo sales and marketing of AIC, said: "We are undergoing a major route rationalization process, so we can start operating on profitable routes."

In June 2007, the state-owned carrier had re-entered the cargo market on the Frankfurt and Paris routes. For capturing the cargo markets across continents, AIC will deploy nearly 41 aircraft gradually.

"Our long-term plan is to make AIC a separate profit center. Everything that we will do will be evaluated in terms of cost and profit," said Gupta.