Private jets swarming Indian skies, say study

It is not only India's billionaires who are flying in their private jets but even high profile doctors, scientists and lawyers are criss-crossing the Indian skies in their private jets.

The result, in the last three years, there has been a 46 per cent increase in the number of registered private jets to 136, according to a study by the Firestone Management Group, a US-based research company.

Of the combined total of 136 private jets (4-6 seats), 95 were manufactured less than 10 years ago representing nearly 70 per cent of the current installed base of aircraft registered in India.

In the last 36 months, 43 jets from manufacturers such as Hawker Beechcraft, Cessna and Bombardier were added to the registry, said Mr Justin Lee Firestone, Managing Director, Firestone Management Group, the US. “These professionals understand the value of time,” he said.

India is over a $1 billion industry when it comes to registered private jets. This market will explode in the next few years even as more millionaires come on board.

Incidentally, in the recent past all the major jet manufacturers have increased their sales and support staff in India to address this ‘huge' market, he said.

As India is one of the fastest growing major economies of the world, the quantitative data indicates that the country is embracing the need for safe and efficient business jet travel, he said. Firestone Management is a boutique private jet advisory practice, focused on assisting multinational private jet organisations interested in penetrating emerging markets such as India,

Mr Firestone had spent over a decade in the private jet industry holding senior management positions with Hawker Beechcraft, Asia Jet and Marquis Jet. If India has more number of jets, China gives better price for the jets. The price of the jet in India range between a high of $50 million and a low of $3 million but the average price is around $10 million a jet.

Better than China

However, in China there are 116 jets, the average price is around $40 million/jet.

While Chinese use their jets mostly for leisure purposes, Indians crisscross the sky purely on business. A typical businessman will have a breakfast and lunch meetings with customers and vendors and would like to return home for dinner, he says.

China's growth in the number of jets came mainly due to the 2008 Olympics.

However, in India, it has been the result of the economic growth when other economies were suffering during the downturn, he said.

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