Even the minister of civil avi-ation, Praful Patel agreesthat the Indian private jetsector will explode to 500 air-craft within the next five

years or earlier.Easier norms as compared to those

governing commercial aircraft and loweroperating cost coupled with fact that mostindividuals that own private aircraft canvery well afford them make the sector oneto watch out for.

India is already considered the coun-try with the fastest growing number ofmillionaires and billionaires.

According to the annual World WealthReport released by investment major Mer-rill Lynch and consultancy Capgemini,India saw its millionaire population surg-ing in 2007 by 22.6% -- highest in the world.The number of High-Net Worth Individ-uals (HNWIs) in India grew to about1,23,000 at the end of 2007,up from 100,015last year.

And looking at the sheer value formoney that owning a business jet brings,the country's HNWIs are acquiring theirjets at record speed.

And the jets do cost a pretty bundle.The new machines range from $1 millionto a staggering $80 million. The high-endfeatures include a personal bedroom, of-fice space,modern communication facil-ities and even a jacuzzi.

At present, the country's private jetmarket is dominated by US-based Cessnaand Hawker Beechcraft,but other playersespecially high-end players like Boeing,Gulfstream, Embraer and Bombardierare fast catching up.

All the major players,around a dozen,have already announced plans to launchmajor distribution and after-sales main-tenance facilities in the country to expandand capture a major chunk of the Indianprivate aircraft market.

Last year Hawker Beechcraft openedtheir exclusive maintenance and distribu-tion centre through a partnership withGurgaon based Interglobe Aviation at theIndira Gandhi International Airport inNew Delhi.

So after Bentleys and Rolls Royces, In-dia's super rich are now looking at Gulf-streams and Aerion jets.

At least six HNWIs from india have al-ready placed orders for the supersonicAerion jet priced at a swooning $80 mil-lion.The aircraft is expected to come intoproduction in 2012 but already six Indiansamong 80 globally have put up around$500,000 to book their Aerion.

Data from both the Centre of Asia Pa-cific Aviation (CAPA) and the DirectorateGeneral of Civil Aviation (DGCA) agreethat the private jets market in the countryhas jumped from barely two dozen fiveyears ago to around 200 now with the In-dian market currently valued at aroundRs 400 crores.

The biggest companies like Boeing andAirbus have been in the country since the1950s and companies like Bombardier ad-mit that more than half their global rev-enues over the next few years will comefrom India.

And its not just Indians buying the air-craft that is leading to the huge surge buta number of private charter companiesbased out of Europe and Asia like Berk-

shire Hathway promoted Netjets, Execu-jets and Vistajets have announced plansto set up shop in India.

Already there are a number of chartercompanies in India like Manav Singh pro-moted Club One Air and Religare pro-moted Ran air in expansion mode.

Charter firms are huge contributors tothe growth of private jets in the country.Many potential business jet owners travelby charter aircraft and then decide to buytheir own looking at the benefits.

Sensing a burgeoning market, com-mercial airlines like Air Deccan and Kin-fisher are also looking at starting corpo-rate charter airlines.

According to sources,the DGCA has al-ready given the green light to around 70odd companies to buy around 100 busi-ness and personal aircraft since the begin-ning of this year.These include a smorgas-board of VLJs, helicopters, turboprops(propeller driven aircraft), helicoptersand huge business jets fitted with board-room like interiors and state of the art

entertainment and communicationsequipment.

Most of the biggest companies inIndia like Real estate major DLFgroup, TVS Motors, power and air-port major GMR Group and con-sumer durables giant Videocon haveall received permission to buy orlease corporate jets. Others like Re-liance Industries, the UB Group andthe Raymonds group, which alreadyhave corporate jets, are adding totheir fleets.

Videocon already has a BeechKing Air 350, DLF a Gulfstream anda Sikorsky S-92, TVS Motors aBeechcraft Superking Air B-200 andReliance Industries an Airbus A319CJ, a Falcon 900EX and a Global Ex-press XRS apart from others.

Experts believe buying a jet may becheaper than chartering in the longrun as the hourly flying cost of anowned jet is around Rs 35,000 to Rs 1.5lakh as against a total cost for a char-tered aircraft which is around Rs 1.5lakhs to Rs 3.5 lakhs.

Some of the biggest private jetslike the Gulfstream or BomabardierGlobal express have a range of 7,000nautical miles and include facilitieslike king size beds, internet andphone connections and a dedicatedservice crew including an onboardgourmet chef.

And the orders are mainly comingfrom companies involved in mining,oil and gas,manufacturing,retail andconstruction.

But why is India Inc going crazy tobuy the jets at such extraordinaryprices. Arun Sharma, who heads acompany called The Aviators that of-fers complete solutions for businessaviation in the country, says the rea-son has everything to do with theeconomy. "With the economy grow-ing up and more money being avail-able,perspectives are changing.Peo-ple are looking forward to luxury andcomfort that comes with a private jet,"Sharma says.

The amount of time saved and flex-ibility allowed due to the private air-craft is unrivalled.

According to Nilesh Pattanayakwho represents Bombardier in India,every 400 hours flown on a private jetsaves around a months time.And well"Time is Money" says an aviation an-alysts from Mukesh Ambani's Re-liance Industries.

Even the Prime Minister's officebelieves in this model of efficiencyimprovement in operations. The In-dian Air Force has ordered three Boe-ing Business jets for the Prime Min-ister's international travel. Of these,two have already been delivered andare being refurbished while the thirdis on its way.

LOOK WHO'S FLYING

SOME OF THE TOP INDIANBUSINESSMEN WHO OWN PRIVATE JETS

RATAN TATAFalcon 2000

MUKESH AMBANIBombardier Global Express, Falcon

900EX, Airbus Corporate Jet

ANIL AMBANIFalcon 2000, Falcon 7X,

Bombardier Global Express

LAKSHMI MITTALBombardier Global Express,

Gulfstream GV

KP SINGH OF DLFGulfstream GIV

VIJAY MALLYAAirbus Corporate Jet

GAUTAM SINGHANIAChallenger 604

TULSI TANTI OF SUZLONCitation XL

PLANELEAVING ON A

Flying now is all about money

EXPRESS INTERNATIONALAn Report on Business Aviation

JETFinancial Express (All Editions)

JULY2008

While the Indian scheduled air carrier sector is facing hard times due to escalating operating cost, the Indian private and business jet sector is stillgrowing at a phenomenal rate. This sector is expected to trounce the commercial sector by operational fleet within the next three to five years