# Air India Cargo (IATA AI · ICAO AIC · AWB 098)

> Air India Cargo is the cargo division of India's Air India Limited and trades under IATA designator AI with AWB prefix 098. The air operator certificate is held by Air India Limited, controlled by Tata Sons. The business model is pure belly capacity marketing with no dedicated freighters. Forwarders book through Air India's cargo portal and reach a dense Indian domestic network plus direct services to Europe and North America from the Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru hubs.

## Quick facts

| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Legal | Air India Limited |
| IATA | `AI` |
| ICAO | `AIC` |
| AWB prefix | `098` |
| Country | IN |
| Group | Tata Sons Private Limited |
| Tracking | https://aicargoportal.airindia.com/icargoneoportal/app/main/#/app |

## Overview

Air India Cargo is the cargo division of Air India Limited, the Indian network carrier headquartered in Gurugram, Haryana. The company is registered under CIN U62200HR2007PLC111539 and is controlled by Tata Sons; Singapore Airlines has held a stake since the merger with Vistara completed on 12 November 2024. Air India Cargo is not a carrier in its own right: the air waybill, liability and claims always rest with Air India Limited, which also holds the air operator certificate.

The business model is pure belly capacity marketing. The carrier operates no dedicated freighters and sells only lower-deck capacity on the scheduled fleets of Air India and its group subsidiary Air India Express. The official fleet overview as at 11 August 2026 lists the Airbus A319, A320ceo, A320neo, A321ceo, A321neo and A350-900 as well as the Boeing 787-8, 787-9 and 777-300ER; the Boeing 737-800 come from Air India Express. Widebody equipment accepts PAG, PAJ, PMC, PLA and PKC pallets and AKE, ALF, AAP, AMP and AMF containers, while narrowbody equipment takes bulk loads only.

The network centres on India, with the carrier's own storage and transfer hubs at Delhi (DEL), Mumbai (BOM) and Bengaluru (BLR). Since 20 June 2026 Air India has been the first Indian carrier to operationalise the Indian government's new cargo transshipment framework on the Chennai-Delhi-Frankfurt corridor; on 21 August 2026 it was extended to Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai with onward carriage to Copenhagen, Frankfurt and London Heathrow. Eligible shipments stay in the same unit load device and no longer require piece-level re-screening at Delhi.

For forwarders: IATA designator AI, ICAO code AIC, AWB prefix 098. Booking, eAWB and tracking run through the cargo portal at aicargoportal.airindia.com. The product range covers express, pharma, mail, courier, dangerous goods, live animals, perishables, valuables and vulnerables; pharma is backed by GDP certification from SGS at the stations the carrier names explicitly.

## Hubs

- DEL
- BOM
- BLR

## Fleet

- Boeing 777-300ER × 0 (20000 kg)

- Airbus A350-900 × 0 (18000 kg)

- Boeing 787-9 × 0 (18000 kg)

- Boeing 787-8 × 0 (10000 kg)

- Airbus A321neo × 0 (3500 kg)

- Airbus A321ceo × 0 (3500 kg)

- Airbus A320neo × 0 (2500 kg)

- Airbus A320ceo × 0 (2500 kg)

- Airbus A319 × 0 (1500 kg)

- Boeing 737-800 × 0 (1200 kg)

## Sources

- [Air India Cargo, offizielle Frachtwebsite](https://cargo.airindia.com/)

- [IATA, Current Airline Members - Air India](https://www.iata.org/en/about/members/airline-list/air-india-/61/)

- [U.S. Census Bureau, Air Carrier Codes (Foreign Trade Division)](https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/schedules/ac/acname.txt)

- [Air India, Corporate Information](https://www.airindia.com/in/en/corporate-information.html)

- [Air India, Fleet fact sheet September 2026 (Stand 11.08.2026)](https://www.airindia.com/content/dam/air-india/newsroom/press-kits/pdfs/AI-Fleet-Sept-2026.pdf)

- [Air India Cargo, Fleet & ULDs](https://cargo.airindia.com/in/en/about-us/fleet-ulds.html)

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