Mumbai, Feb 2 (IANS) The cargo business of India's flagship carrier Air India will work as a separate entity from April, a senior airline official said Tuesday.

'We expect increase in our business after the cargo unit of Air India is hived off from its parent company (Air India),' Anita Khurana, director (cargo), Air India told reporters here.

The airline's freight services currently constitute eight percent of the total revenue. It currently operates four Airbus A310 freighters and six Boeing 737s from its cargo hub at Nagpur.

The airline now plans to resume cargo services to Japan and other European destinations which it stopped last year following drop in demand due to slowdown in the global economy. This includes its international cargo service connecting Chennai and Mumbai to Frankfurt.

Domestic air cargo has been growing since May last year.

Although the government granted licences for air cargo in 2007 but only G.R. Gopinath-promoted Deccan 360 who earlier operated Air Deccan began Deccan Cargo and Express Logistics in May last year.