Jet-setters of India Inc
Jet-setters of India Inc
Jet-setters of India Inc
Jet-setters of India Inc
Jet-setters of India Inc
Jet-setters of India Inc
Jet-setters of India Inc
Jet-setters of India Inc
Jet-setters of India Inc
Jet-setters of India Inc
370)this.width=370">Although the Indian aviation sector is finding it tough to manoeuvre smoothly through the storm churned up by high operating costs, falling passenger numbers and tough competition, Indian Inc seems to be flying high in more ways than one.
Gone are the days when big cars were the fancy of the business glitterati; now it is sleek business jets and luxury yachts that rivet their attention. Not only is corporate India acquiring international companies, but it is also picking up private jets along the way.
Until 2005, there were les than 40 private aircraft in India. Today, India boasts of around 515 private aircraft, including 257 fixed-wing planes and 258 helicopters.
More and more global executive jet makers are eyeing India as one of the strongest markets for these airplanes.
Even businessmen from Tier-II and Tier-III towns are interested in owning a private jet. The mining town of Bellary, in Karnataka, has earned the epithet 'the private aircraft capital of the country'.
Click NEXT to take a look at the exclusive club of businessmen with their own private jets in India . . .
370)this.width=370">The Tatas are not new to aviation. The legendary JRD Tata is celebrated as the father of India's civil aviation.
The current Tata Group chairman, Ratan N Tata, clambered on into the cockpit when he was only 14; he made his first solo flight at 17, the legal age to fly an aeroplane.
He had become a cleaner at the local flying club to gain flying hours when he was as an architecture student at Cornell in the United States.
His under-17 classes were taken at the Bombay Flying Club, where he learned to fly a two-seater Piper-Cub aircraft.
Tata likes to fly his private jet himself. He has a Falcon Jet that is no longer used for commercial aviation. The Falcon made by Dassault, the French aviation major, is run by Taj Air, a company owned by him.
He had also flown F-16 and F/A-18 planes at the Aero India 2007 air show. Tata had said in an interview that aviation is his first love and only passion.
"The idea of flying an F-16 excites me. I am a trained pilot for both planes and helicopters." The F-16 Tata flew belonged to Bloc 50 of the US Air Force.
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