In its bid to revive its cargo service, Air-India has issued tenders to induct four freighter aircraft on lease by March to start operations from April.

The airline has floated global tenders to take on dry lease three Airbus A310-300 and one Boeing 747-400 for a period of five to seven years. It has sought delivery of one Airbus and the Boeing aircraft by March, according to the tender documents.

The two other A-310-300s would have to be delivered by April and May this year. The bids close on January 27.

Air-India had operated cargo flights with DC-8 aircraft taken on lease from Evergreen International till 1996.

At a recent meeting, the A-I board had approved a proposal to take the freighters on lease as it would be left with little cargo space due to its plans to withdraw its wide-bodied aircraft from the Gulf, East and Southeast Asia due to the launch of its low cost subsidiary, Air-India Express, in the near future.

Apart from this, Europe would not allow Boeing 747 combi flights from this year and hence A-I sees no other option but to revive its cargo service, airline sources said, adding that it was also planning to 'purchase' cargo capacity from other carriers to meet the demand.