Air Cargo Forum India (ACFI), at its Annual General Meeting held on June 29, constituted a new board and appointed Yashpal Sharma as President for the period 2022-2024. Cyrus Katgara, the past-President handed over the mantle to the new board. Katgara will be part of the current board as Ex Officio. He will continue supporting ACFI to achieve its goals and help boost the Indian economy.
The Governing Board for 2022-24 include some prominent names of the industry:
| Position | Name, Designation, Company Name |
| President | Yashpal Sharma, Managing Director, Skyways Group |
| Vice President | Sanjiv Edward, Chief Commercial Officer, Delhi International Airport |
| Hon. Secretary | Ramesh Mamidala, Chief Cargo Officer, Adani Airport Holdings |
| Hon. Treasurer | Arun Kumar, Managing Director, InSynergy Supply Chain Solutions |
| Ex Officio(Immediate Past-President) | Cyrus Katgara, Partner, Jeena & Company |
| Board Members | Abdulla Ali Al Khallafi, Cargo Manager – India & Nepal, Emirates SkyCargo |
| Ajith Pai, Chief Operating Officer, Delhivery | |
| Avinash Razdan, Chief Executive Officer, Delhi Cargo Service Center | |
| Kamesh Peri, Chief Executive Officer, Celebi Delhi Cargo Terminal Management India | |
| Keku Bomi Gazder, Managing Director and CEO, Aviapro Logistics Services | |
| Nipun Aggarwal, Chief Commercial Officer, Air India | |
| Satish Lakkaraju, Senior Vice President, Radar Ventures (Wiz Freight) | |
| Saurabh Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, GMR Hyderabad Air Cargo | |
| Shantanu Bhadkamkar, Managing Director, ATC Global Logistics |
Yashpal Sharma is a well recognised personality in the global logistics industry. He is the MD of Skyways Group, a leading international freight forwarding company and India’s top air freight forwarder, offering a wide spectrum of logistics and supply chain services including air freight, ocean freight, road transport and express transportation. Sharma is the former President of Air Cargo Club Of Delhi (ACCD).
Commenting on his new role, Yashpal Sharma, the newly elected President said, “I would like to thank my co-founding Members, Past Presidents, the ACFI secretariat and all board members of the past, for their invaluable and passionate contribution to ACFI and the air cargo community. It would be my utmost endeavour to work with the new board members and focus to achieve the vision and objectives of ACFI. While we have aligned ourselves to Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA)’s target of 10 million metric tonnes (MMT) by 2030-31 but it would need a determined effort from all of us to galvanise process improvements, sync all stakeholders including government agencies and set short-term, mid-term and long-term goals and more importantly execute them to perfection within the set timelines.”
“There is a huge shift in people’s mindset in the logistics sector and they want to move towards ease of doing business. The industry will be strengthened by improved infrastructure and become more effective by adopting digitisation and with our PM’s Gati Shakti the government of India is focusing immensely on the logistics and air cargo industry. Our aim is to position Air Cargo as the choicest mode of transportation in India and make it globally admired for its efficiency,” said Sanjiv Edward, the newly elected ACFI Vice President.
ACFI is an association of all key stakeholders of air cargo logistics supply chain industry consisting of airlines, airport operators, cargo terminal operators, freight forwarders, customs brokers, express and parcel industry, bonded truckers, etc. Its objective is to steer and promote the development of air cargo logistics industry in India and make it at par with the best air cargo ecosystems of the world. It is one-of-a-kind and the only nationwide association that has representation in the governing board from all stakeholders of the industry. ACFI has been working very closely with MoCA on its vision to achieve the goal of taking Indian air space to 10 MMT by 2030-31 from the current 3.1 MMT.
During the 10th ACFI Annual event held in May 2022, Honourable Minister of Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya M Scindia himself stated that air cargo had started as an underdog during pandemic. However, it has now emerged as a game-changer and has ably adopted to the changing environment. It is now time for the entire cargo community to push the pedals harder and ensure they succeed in achieving the vision 2030-31. He also appreciated the efforts of ACFI towards the growth of India’s air cargo sector.
