Corporate jets to be homeless

Mumbai: Some of India’s largest corporate houses will soon have to find new homes for their corporate and private jets that have until now been parked at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai.
The leases on these hangars have expired and with the Mumbai International Airport Ltd (Mial) in no mood to extend them, companies such as Reliance Industries Ltd, Tata group, Essar group, Raymond Ltd, Air Works India Engineering Pvt. Ltd and Indamer Co. Pvt. Ltd will have to move.
Confirming the development, Mial managing director G.V. Sanjay Reddy said: “We have served eviction notices on the firms that are having hangars at Mumbai airport as the leases of them had already expired. We are going to talk to them to sort out the issues.” Representatives of the hangars also confirmed that they have got eviction notices from Mial.
The hangars at Mumbai airport for these corporations are used to maintain and park the fleet of business aircraft or private jets.
While corporations such as Reliance and Taj Air (of the Tata group) maintain their own fleet, companies such as Air Works and Indamer manage fleets for other companies, among them Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-Adag). Wire service PTI had reported on 29 April that R-Adag had cancelled its contract with Air Works.
Also, Mial claims the hangars are a safety risk.
“These hangars are currently located very close to the runway. This is violating the norms of Directorate General of Civil Aviation,” Reddy of Mial said. “Either they will have to shift to Juhu or relocate to some other part of the airport. We have not taken any decision on this, but we are discussing.”
The Juhu helibase, in the western suburbs of Mumbai, is near the airport, which is on the east side.
Menon of Air Works said his firm would challenge the decision in court.
08/05/09 PR Sanjai/Livemint

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Categories: Airports May 2009, Indian Aviation- In General May 2009