New Delhi : Around 130 air charter service operators across the country are having a ‘boom time’ making ‘handsome profit’ due to extensive use of helicopters and business jets by parties like BJP and Congress for electioneering, dubbed as most expensive in India’s history.
The sector’s turn-around is significant as it was reporting negative growth of two per cent in the past two years. The business has increased by over 35-40 per cent in the last two months, mainly due to hiring of the flying machines by the politicos for the campaigning. Industry sources said the parties and individual politicos are roughly spending Rs 350-400 crore to criss-cross the country in chartered planes during campaign for the world’s biggest democratic exercise spread over two months. So far BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has clocked maximum number of flying hours to campaign for the party followed by Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, experts in the industry said.
An industry insider said BJP was the top spender so far in using choppers and business jets. A number of operators said there has been scramble for aircraft in this election season as availability of the business jets and choppers have outpaced the demand, triggering a huge surge in rates. Secretary of Business Aircraft Operator’s Association R K Bali said the sector was witnessing negative growth of two per cent in the last two years but business has seen impressive growth as leading parties hit an aggressive campaign trail.
15/04/14 Free Press Journal
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The sector’s turn-around is significant as it was reporting negative growth of two per cent in the past two years. The business has increased by over 35-40 per cent in the last two months, mainly due to hiring of the flying machines by the politicos for the campaigning. Industry sources said the parties and individual politicos are roughly spending Rs 350-400 crore to criss-cross the country in chartered planes during campaign for the world’s biggest democratic exercise spread over two months. So far BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has clocked maximum number of flying hours to campaign for the party followed by Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, experts in the industry said.
An industry insider said BJP was the top spender so far in using choppers and business jets. A number of operators said there has been scramble for aircraft in this election season as availability of the business jets and choppers have outpaced the demand, triggering a huge surge in rates. Secretary of Business Aircraft Operator’s Association R K Bali said the sector was witnessing negative growth of two per cent in the last two years but business has seen impressive growth as leading parties hit an aggressive campaign trail.
15/04/14 Free Press Journal
