March 2014.
JetSetGo, a startup that aggregates jet flights, helicopters and air ambulances, launched its operations. The company was featured in Forbes India’s Luxury Special issue.
December 2015.
Baron Aviation, a Mumbai-based private air charter service provider, sees a huge potential in Online Air Charter Services. It launches another air-charter booking portal.
Baron hopes that the private jet market is going to see huge expansion in other cities which makes it confident of higher growth in the segment: up to the tune of 30 per cent.
Domestic private aviation business is worth Rs 1800 cr in 2015, Baron hopes that it will reach Rs 5,000 crore by 2020. Expectation being pinned mainly on:
- The rising popularity for such services in non-metro markets.
- The domestic private jet market has 126 operators with 194 planes, but 79 of them just have 1-2 jets
- While global flying average per plane is 800- 1000 hrs a year, in India, this is only 300-400 hrs
While launching the charter booking portal, Baron hopes that this on line booking venture can cause global flying average per plane in India go up to 600 hrs over the next few years. Baron Chairman and Chief Executive Rajeev Wadhwa said -
- We are not just a lead generation platform but an end-to-end service fulfilment platform, which is back end integrated with charter operators
- the technology behind the platform is proprietary and patents for this innovation have been filed
- This portal has already roped in 40 private jets from 12 operators and one can book a plane in 60 seconds with complete transparency in pricing.
- The 12 operators which have enlisted with Baron on line service include such players as
-Club One Aviation,
-Jindal Aviation
-Supertech,
-Raymond
-Imperial Air and
-Orbit Aviation
- The fleet of aircraft that the portal offers ranges from the small Pilatus PC 1247, with a single turboprop engine to the Dassault Falcon 2000 twin-engine business jet.
- By the month-end, there will be 10 more planes on the site.
- Of these 40 planes, 75 per cent are registered in Delhi, which is the capital of private aviation business in the country.
- Mumbai, does not have much scope as the city airport is the costliest in the world in terms of aviation charges which is nothing less than Rs 1 lakh for a day
- 30-40 per cent of current air charter users are expected to migrate to the platform over the next one year, which in turn can boost the market by 30 per cent
- His firm's commission from each deal will be 2-3 per cent of the booking amount, which is fixed by the jet's owner.
But Mr Wadwa did not say anything on deals being done presently through manual booking. He believes that the present system is opaque and this step would remove the inefficiencies.
Earlier, it has already been reported that Business Aviation has bleak prospects. [See Business Jets]. Concerns about the charter segment in India have persisted because of inadequate infrastructure and several regulatory hurdles that charter services face in order to function smoothly in the country.