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Indian businessmen flying high

Indian corporates and air-charter companies have placed orders for 153 aircraft worth more than a billon dollars. Besides this, orders for another 250 helicopters have also been placed, or are in the pipeline, with aircraft manufacturers around the globe. While the business jets are expected to be handed over to the clients over the next one year, the choppers would be delivered over the next three to five years.

“I would estimate the 153 business jets that have been ordered would easily cost more than $1 billion,” Kapil Kaul, CEO, south Asia, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, told Khaleej Times on Wednesday.

According to him, India would emerge among the top global markets for corporate jets, reflecting the buoyancy of the economy.

The revival of the Indian economy since the beginning of 2010 has seen an upsurge in demand for private jets. The cost of these jets has also plummeted in recent years, thanks to the economic recession in the west.

At present, there are about 500 private aircraft, half of which are fixed-wing and the rest helicopters, in operation in India. The numbers are expected to double over the next five years, according to aviation analysts.

Many top Indian corporates placed significant orders with aircraft manufacturers at the India Aviation 2010 show held in Hyderabad earlier 
this year.

According to Canadian aircraft-maker, Bombardier Inc, the Indian business aviation sector is expected to see a compound annual growth rate of 14 per cent over the next 10 years. Bombardier expects Indian companies to place orders for about 250 business jets over the next eight years.

Other private jet makers including Gulfstream, Dassault, Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft — all of who are now active in India — are bullish about the growth prospects for the Indian business aviation market.

In fact, Eurocopter recently floated a joint venture with Indian government-owned Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd, for setting up a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) centre, to cater to the business aviation segment.

Almost all the top Indian corporates including the groups controlled by the two Ambani brothers — Mukesh 
and Anil — the Tatas, the Essar groupo, the Jindals, and even infrastructure majors such as the GMR and 
GVIK groups, are acquiring new corporate jets.

Billionaires and other high net worth individuals are also placing orders for personal aircraft to ferry them not just within the country, but even for overseas travel. Many of the aircraft – that can seat dozens of passengers – are priced at upwards of Rs25 billion. — Nithin@khaleejtimes.com