Election boom: Air-ferry operators having a ball in India

Modi clocked maximum number of flying hours to campaign for the party.

ISLAMABAD:

Around 130 air charter service operators across India are having a ‘boom time’ due to the extensive use of helicopters and business jets by political parties like BJP and Congress for electioneering — dubbed the most expensive in the country’s history.

Industry sources said the parties and individual politicos are roughly spending Rs3.5-4 billion to travel across the country in chartered planes during campaign for the world’s biggest democratic exercise, The Pioneer newspaper reported on Tuesday.

So far the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has clocked maximum number of flying hours to campaign for the party followed by Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, experts in the industry said.

The operators usually charge Rs70,000 to Rs75,000 per flying hour for a four-seat single engine chopper, while business jets cost Rs250,000 to R300,000 per hour, but these rates have increased significantly due to the surge in demand.



Secretary of Business Aircraft Operators Association R K Bali said the sector was witnessing negative growth of 2 per cent in the last two years, but the business is currently seeing impressive growth as leading parties hit an aggressive campaign trail.

According to figures issued by Directorate General of Civil Aviation of India, around 130 non-scheduled aircraft operators are in the business currently out of which around 40 are big operators having four to five private jets which ferry people abroad also. They are operating around 520 aircraft and choppers.

Captain G R Gopinath, the pioneer of low-cost airline in India and promoter of Deccan Charters, said “Even after hopping in and out of choppers and jets, national leaders like Modi and Rahul may not be able to cover more than 200 constituencies.”

Gautam Sahani of Subha Aviation said the increased frequency of chartered flights have significantly helped earnings by airports across the country as they charge fees for landing, take-off and parking.

Similarly, the aircraft maintenance firms are also having a decent share of the business as increased flying hours mean good upkeep of the aircraft.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 16^th, 2014.