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How would you like to go on a two-day, whistlestop pilgrimage, hopping from Delhi to Dehradun and from there on to Kedarnath and Badrinath and back? It might be a strenuous trip if you braved the mountain roads and drove from one pilgrimage spot to another. But how about hiring a helicopter and turning it into a quick hopper trip? The cost: Rs 5.25 lakh to hire a 5-seater Bell 407.
Hiring a plane or helicopter might seem like an extravagant luxury but you’d be surprised how many people are doing it. There are businessmen, politicians and even pilgrims in a hurry, all willing to fork out wads of money to charter an aircraft and make it theirs for anywhere from an hour to a few days. Some are even buying their own aircraft on a ‘fractional’ basis.
Says Anil Kakkar of Delhi-based International Air Charters, “Earlier only a few politicians and industrialists hired jets, but today more business people prefer chartering aircrafts as it saves a lot of precious time.”
The air charter industry has come a long way in recent years and today there’s a wide choice of aircraft for those who can afford it.
The newest concept in the industry is fractional ownership, which has been introduced for the first time in this country by Manav Singh of Club One Air. Fractional ownership could mean, for instance, that you buy 1/6th of a plane by paying that much of its total cost. Under this system the plane or helicopter is then managed by an aviation company on behalf of the owners. “Depending on the percentage of your share and the aircraft you buy, you are entitled to a certain number of hours of flying each year,” adds Singh.
Club One Air boasts of a Cessna Citation C-II jet with a sitting capacity of two + seven and a Cessna Citation Excel, which can carry eight passengers and flies at 800km/hr. Buying 50 hours of flying from Club One Air costs Rs 10 lakh. And these services can be availed any time and anywhere as the fractional owner wishes. Fractional ownership has become popular in the US where it was pioneered by a company called NetJets.
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But fractional ownership is the newest option in the industry. There’s also considerable debate about whether it’s cheaper and better than straightforward renting as and when necessary.
For those who prefer to rent and who can afford it, there’s the Falcon 2000 that’s the flying machine of choice for top corporate honchos and which costs almost Rs 3 lakh per hour to hire. Says Sunil Nair of Mumbai-based Easyjet Aviation Services, “It is a very fast jet with speed equivalent to that of a Boeing.” The Falcon has powerful twinjets and can climb about 43,000ft in about 27 minutes. Most of the planes also have interiors that are luxurious enough to satisfy the pickiest businessmen. Many Falcons even have their own bars.
Falcons are for tycoons who make more money per minute than most of us earn in our lives. But there are smaller planes and helicopters for lesser beings who are just plain rich. There are helicopters like the Dauphin SA365N, two-, four- and six-seater Bells. And there are different types of King aircraft and the Partenavia P-68s and the P-69s.
At Aviation Services India, a four-seater ride in a P-68 will cost about Rs 40,000 per hour while a six-seater P-69 costs about Rs 50,000 per hour. But if you want to accommodate about eight people, a King Air B-200 is probably the right answer and it costs about Rs 70,000 per hour.
To get an idea of how big the charter business has become, take a look at STIC Travel Group, a leading travel services company. The company has about 40 aeroplanes that it can call into service if necessary. STIC can supply any from deluxe executive jets to turboprops and deluxe helicopters. STIC Chairman Subhash Goyal says the aircraft are often hired by affluent businessmen. But his other customers also include rich tourists and film crews. Sometimes they’re even used for medical emergencies.
“Hiring an aircraft is like hiring an air taxi. You pay according to the time utilised,” says Goyal.
There are pilgrimage charters too. STIC Travel Group even offers charter services to Shirdi, Puttaparthi, Vaishnodevi, Dharamshala, Badrinath, Kedarnath and other religious spots. And it also offers a four-day pilgrimage-sightseeing trip from Delhi to Dehradun, Kedarnath-Badrinath, Harsil and Uttarkashi for Rs 10.75 lakh. That’s on a Bell 407. Says Goyal, “Many aircraft owners in India have started renting out their jets as charter planes.”
Hiring an aeroplane could be a tough business for the uninitiated. But the companies help out newcomers to the game. For instance, Kakkar of Delhi-based International Air Charters not only provides aircraft but also consultancy services to help clients decide what aircraft or helicopter would suit their needs.
What’s the greatest advantage of hiring a plane? That’s fairly obvious. The convenience is unmatched. Says Kakkar, “You can simply walk in the airport just half an hour in advance and after a quick luggage check-in, leave for your destination.” Adds Sunil Nair of Easyjet, “Hiring a charter is not only a necessity in today’s world but also about travelling in comfort and luxury.”
How far in advance do you need to book? That can vary. The aircraft are usually provided depending on availability. But most companies recommend that you book about a week in advance. While booking the jet you can also order the food you’d prefer on board.
Even if you can’t afford to hire a plane, there are other services on offer these days to make travel easier. For instance, Pawan Hans runs helicopter flights from Augustmuni (17km beyond Rudraprayag) by a Bell 407 helicopter. It’s a 45-minute trip from Augustmuni to Kedarnath and back. The earliest flight you can take is at 6:30 am and the last leaves around 11:10am. Passengers get about 90 minutes at Kedarnath and the fare per passenger is Rs 9,900 for the round trip. A one-way flight costs about Rs 5, 500.