Planning to buy a jet? First, think about its parking space

New Delhi: Even as aviation experts await the arrival of more high performance jets, turbo props, VLJs and helicopters to add to the 250 jets in the Indian skies, there may be a few difficulties at ground zero.
With the number of private jets predicted to be doubled by 2018, this is a serious question regarding where exactly these jets will be parked or housed.
This may be a major deterrent for potential jet buyers, whose plans to purchase jets may not be approved, if they cannot prove that there will be enough space to park their winged beauties.
According to Kanu Gohain director general of civil aviation: “The Civil Aviation ministry uses parking space for aircrafts as a central criteria to evaluate an individuals’ proposal to purchase a jet.”
But with the space crunch in metros, getting that vital space is a task to reckon with. “It will definitely be a challenge to find a slot in Delhi and Mumbai,” says Gohain.
Sources at Delhi International Airport (DIAL) and Mumbai International Airport (MIAL), under whose purview are the facilities for parking of jets in Delhi and Mumbai, respectively, confirm this shortage.
Of the 30 slots that are available for parking private jets in Delhi, almost all of them are currently being used. The case is similar in Mumbai where there are already about 40-42 jets in their hangars.
21/09/08 Lisa Mary Thomson/Economic Times

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Categories: Airports Sep 2008, Indian Aviation- In General Sep 2008