India is the most important growth market for SATS, say senior executives
Executives from SATS and FedEx at the opening of cargo logistics park at Bengaluru airport on Tuesday.
India is the most important growth market for SATS and the company is looking for opportunities to expand its operations, senior executives said on Tuesday.
Singapore-based SATS has ground handling and in-flight kitchen business in 27 countries in the world. In India the company has been present for over twenty years and runs joint ventures with Air India and Indian Hotels Company Ltd.
India contributes 8-10 per cent of SATS overall revenue and this is expected to rise even further with the opening of new logistics park at Bengaluru airport on Tuesday.
The logistics park which is being run by Air India SATS Airport Services Pvt Ltd (AISATS) has 2.4 lakh square feet of warehousing space and cold storage facilities for freight forwarders. This will support forwarders and e-commerce firms in consolidation and distribution activities. It is also expected to strengthen Bengaluru’s position as busiest airport for cargo traffic in South India.
“We are quite bullish about India. We are keen to grow and expand in India. India will be a powerhouse,” said Bob Chi, CEO of Gateway Services (ground handling) for Asia Pacific region.
Growth in manufacturing and a rising middle class are seen as drivers for trade and air transport in India. The Singaporean company’s bullishness in India is not without reason. Indian aviation sector was the among the quickest to recover from Covid-19 disruption and traffic has even surpassed pre-2019 levels.
Bengaluru kitchen
Last year SATS opened a central kitchen in Bengaluru (its largest such facility outside Singapore) to produce meals for restaurants, cater to companies and brands. The kitchen has a facility to make 40,000 kg of meals daily.
“The kitchen is ramping up quickly. It is progressing well,” said SATS Chief Financial Officer, Manfred Seah.
Seah said that SATS is now in a better position to handle supply chain disruptions caused by geopolitical and trade tensions.
“I think we will be able to weather the storm much better than anybody else. We saw that during the Ukraine war and during the Red Sea crisis too,” he said.
According to Seah, SATS acquisition of air cargo logistics provider WFS in 2023 has diversified its network which was largely concentrated in Asia Pacific. This has given it ability to overcome supply chain disruptions .
Published on April 22, 2025
