GMR to start charters, plans Rs 700 cr investment

Bangalore: GMR Infrastructure—which has New Delhi, Hyderabad and Istanbul airport projects in its kitty—is now foraying into air charter services. The company is diving into the corporate jet market with a capital expenditure plan of Rs 700 crore. GMR Aviation, set up to drive this charter venture, will have an initial fleet size of 6 nine-seater aircraft and two choppers.
What started as a project for captive use has now been spun off into a full-fledged venture, as a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure. The company is looking at tapping the growing corporate jet market in India. According to industry estimates, the number of private aircraft in India is expected to rise from the existing 150-190 to over 500 in the next four years.
The company has already obtained a licence to operate charter services and has met with encouraging response in its test-marketing phase. GMR has appointed Amit Sinha, formerly with Tata Aviation, to head the venture.
GMR Infrastructure chief financial officer (corporate integration) A Subba Rao told ET, “we floated the venture purely for captive use. But, we now see great potential in offering third party services and using our assets more effectively.”
26/02/08 J Padmapriya & Urvashi Jha/Economic Times

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Categories: airports Feb 2008, Indian Aviation- In General Feb 2008, New Feb 2008