Indian skies to witness Eclipse of new era

New Delhi: There was a new guest last week at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi, attracting attention of the who’s who of the corporate world and the aviation industry. Civil aviation minister Praful Patel, Deccan Aviation chairman Captain Gopinath, Claridges Group MD Sanjeev Nanda, to name a few, were testing the brand new Eclipse 500 in presence of the host Manav Singh, managing director of Club One Air, a company which sells fractional operation of aircraft.
About the size of a mini bus (excluding the wings), the Eclipse 500 is a very light four-seater jet now making its debut in Indian skies. Manav Singh recently placed orders for 11 Eclipse 500 (of which one will be purchased from open market), a very light jet (VLJ) which will mark it’s debut in Indian skies. Putting the machine, whose operating cost is half of other similar jets and turboprops, to use, Mr Singh will be starting a low-cost air charter company in July this year.
“...This company will operate separately from Club One Air, which caters to the need of the rich,” Singh told ET. The cost of Eclipse 500 is around $2 million. Whereas a bigger jet costs at least $7 million. While the operating cost of a VLJ is around Rs 30,000 per hour that of a Turboprop or jet is almost double.
“...There are around 500 airfields in the country and if these are developed, even remote places can be connected, as more and more companies acquire such jets.” Civil aviation minister Praful Patel says.
“We will be soon placing an order for six jets for the air charter company. Besides Eclipse, we are also looking at Hawker, Cessna and Bombardier,” says Deccan Aviation CMD Captain Gopinath.
10/03/08 Vishakha Talreja/Economic Times

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Mar 2008, New Mar 2008