Charter aviation firm goes slow on deliveries

New Delhi: Aviation services provider Bjets, run by Business Jets India Pvt. Ltd, has deferred deliveries of six aircraft, which were scheduled to join its fleet in India this year, the firm’s top executive said.
Launched mid-2008, Bjets, owned by Singapore’s Birley Group and Tata group’s Indian Hotels Co. Ltd, had ordered 50 business jets valued at $1 billion (Rs5,080 crore) to join its fleet over four-five years. With a fleet of four planes in India and one in South East Asia, it had set an aggressive target of 21 planes in its fleet by end-2009.
But Mark Baier, chief executive of Business Jets India, said the company will now add only between five and 10 planes this year, with the rest having been deferred. “This sort of turmoil was unforseen for all,” he said about the economic slowdown. The firm saw demand from business customers slow in September-October and then grow a little, he added. Bjets uses aircraft made by Cessna Aircraft Co. and Hawker Beechcraft Inc. and plans to recruit up to 30 pilots this year.
Separately, the firm has entered into an alliance with domestic helicopter company Global Vectra Helicorp Ltd to connect small towns where jets cannot land. Global Vectra will deploy at least five of its helicopters as part of the arrangement.
20/03/09 Tarun Shukla/Livemint

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Mar 2009