Chief Operating Officer — Interim, Air Cargo

The mandate

A customs-interface cutover has created unmatched airway bills and physical cargo, including pharmaceuticals and valuables, requiring immediate reconciliation and process stabilisation.

The interim must begin within ten days for nine months, covering backlog release, interface correction and two external audits. The chief executive will promote a current terminal head after that person completes the final two control cycles.

Handover requires all stranded cargo resolved, ninety-five per cent clearance inside agreed dwell, unbroken chain-of-custody evidence above 99.9 per cent, and the successor independently chairing a live customs and security exception.

The COO may freeze releases, reassign terminal zones, authorise bonded overtime and approve emergency systems work below ₹60 lakh. Waiver of storage charges above ₹50 lakh, changes to security programmes and capital above ₹2 crore require committee approval; only customs can authorise statutory release.

Airline route development, freight pricing and airport capacity expansion are excluded. The mandate is limited to lawful, secure movement through the existing cargo terminal.

Why this seat is open

The cutover revealed weak reconciliation between electronic status and physical custody. Placing the incumbent on leave removed the operations signatory while urgent cargo continued to arrive. Temporary full authority is required until the terminal head proves command of both service and statutory control.

What you will own

• Reconcile every stranded airway bill to physical location, customs status, security state and accountable custodian.
• Decide cargo release priority using perishability, clinical criticality, statutory order and chain-of-custody confidence.
• Establish dual-control manual procedures until corrected interfaces pass end-to-end reconciliation tests.
• Redesign secure-zone access, handoff scanning and valuable-cargo exception escalation.
• Coordinate customs, airlines, handlers and security through one dated backlog and cause register.
• Validate dwell, release and custody metrics using scan and physical-count sampling.
• Qualify the terminal-head successor through two control cycles and a live multi-agency exception.

Candidate qualifications

• More than twenty-two years in air cargo, airport logistics or bonded-terminal operations with COO-level accountability.
• Directed recovery from customs, cargo-community or warehouse-system failure involving physical reconciliation.
• Strong knowledge of bonded custody, aviation security, dangerous goods, cold chain and airline handling interfaces.
• Experience balancing urgent pharmaceutical and valuable cargo with non-negotiable statutory release controls.
• Evidence of restoring service metrics without clearing backlog through ungoverned manual workarounds.
• Credibility with customs, airport, airline and security stakeholders during active operational disruption.