India’s New Corporate Jet Set

India’s newly rich are acquiring that increasingly contentious totem of the western corporate world, the executive jet, in record numbers. At a time when it is becoming de rigueur to be concerned about the carbon footprint – the contrail of greenhouse gases that jets that spew across the stratosphere -- India’s 100,000 high-net worth individuals, those with more than US$1 million in assets, are snapping up spiffy aircraft at mind-boggling prices for their personal and business use.
Until very recently, corporate jet travel was a rarity in Asia overall as tightfisted titans eschewed private aircraft as an unnecessary frivolity. That has started to change, with India and China at the forefront, giving succor to manufacturers such as Cessna, Bombardier and General Dynamics and others as the US and Eurozone economies start to flag.
Driving the demand in India is impressive annual economic growth of 8 percent. The country is ranked fourth this year in the Forbes ranking of world billionaires, with 53. And, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit, India is expected to host 411,000 US dollar millionaires by 2017, emerging as one of the world’s fastest growing markets.
These developments are seriously impacting consumer spending patterns. So after experiencing the luxury of Rolls-Royces and Bentleys, corporate India is going after corporate jets.
13/06/08 Neeta Lal/Asia Sentinel, China

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Jun 2008