The Hindu Business Line : Aviators India to launch aircraft charter service

The Aviators India Managing Director, Mr Arun Sharma, said the company has bought on dry lease an 18-seater Beech 1900D, which is also the biggest aircraft in the air charter industry in the country. It will add one more Beech craft by December.

"There is huge demand out there and hardly any operators to service a growing market," Mr Sharma said. He estimates that the current market can absorb 50 more charter operators while there are a mere seven serious players in the market. The size of the market currently is around 5,000 hours but has been handicapped by a shortage of charter aircraft.

The service would commence from August though the aircraft has already been booked till the first quarter of next year, Mr Sharma said. "We even have an offer for running a daily shuttle service though we have not firmed up any plans yet."

The company expects to fly an average of 50 hours a month. The per-hour charge is around Rs 1.4 lakh

According to Mr Sharma, one of the industry's main problems has been the lack of funding from financial institutions and banks. Internationally, banks and institutions offer extremely attractive rates but in India, there is hardly any confidence to fund aircraft purchase.

"It is less riskier to finance aircraft purchase than finance passenger cars," he said.

Mr Sharma said the total number of airstrips, including defence airstrips, was around 450 of which usable airstrips are around 175.

Of the 175 airstrips, scheduled airlines cover only 40 per cent.

He said the company's aircraft can cover nearly 90 per cent of operational airports in India compared with the 50 per cent available for commercial aircraft.

He said corporate air shuttle services save an average of four hours travel time and eight hours of productive time each trip.

A chartered flight cuts out waiting time at the airports, apart from the fact that one can customise the departure time according to one's schedule, he added.