Hyderabad: At the International Aviation Show in Hyderabad, the helicopters are missing. The reason: they are all busy ferrying politicians this election season. Bookings happened months in advance.
AJS Walia of Sikorsky says whatever choppers are commercially available in the country have all been booked by the political parties for use during the election period. ''But the numbers are still very small for a large country like India. We need more helicopters,'' he says.
Sameena Haque of Orbit Aviation says business really looks up for charter service companies during elections. "If we fly 30-40 hours a month during non-election days, it is 60-70 or even 100 hours per month during elections for any operator," she says.
Given that India is a vast country with all kinds of terrain, the demand for choppers goes up. But the supply has not been able to cope with the deman
14/03/14 Uma Sudhir/NDTV
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AJS Walia of Sikorsky says whatever choppers are commercially available in the country have all been booked by the political parties for use during the election period. ''But the numbers are still very small for a large country like India. We need more helicopters,'' he says.
Sameena Haque of Orbit Aviation says business really looks up for charter service companies during elections. "If we fly 30-40 hours a month during non-election days, it is 60-70 or even 100 hours per month during elections for any operator," she says.
Given that India is a vast country with all kinds of terrain, the demand for choppers goes up. But the supply has not been able to cope with the deman
14/03/14 Uma Sudhir/NDTV
