<div>It cost Bhupinder Singh, maharaja of Patiala from 1900 to 1938, a princely sum of about Rs 10,000 to purchase his first plane in 1910, a Bleriot monoplane. The first Indian to own a private aircraft, archives show, he added two Farman biplanes from Europe to his fleet.</div><div> </div><div>Now, of course, Indian businessmen spend anywhere between $5 million and $80 million, or more, on their private jets. And, these ‘wings’ must have jaw-dropping interiors as well. David Velupillai, marketing director of France-based Airbus Corporate Jets, is fascinated by the level of customisation that clients ask for, especially those from South-east Asia. “A jacuzzi is impractical… we have dissuaded clients from having mini pools in their aircraft,” he says. But there is no dissuading them from buying the planes.</div><div> </div><div><strong>Owner’s Pride</strong></div><div>Industry insiders expect about 1,300 business jets to sell in India by 2030. Airbus, which sold its first corporate jet in India in 2005, expects to sell about five a year in Asia, says Velupillai. The Ambani brothers and Vijay Mallya, for instance, are proud owners of $83-million ACJ 319s. US-based Firestone Management Group’s first biannual report on the private jets market in India says that of the 130-plus business jets in India, 43 have been added in just the past three years.</div><div> </div><div>Gulfstream Aeropsace, which has been doing business in India since the mid-80s, sold 15 planes between 2001 and 2011, including the large cabin, ultra-long range G550, which is powered by the enhanced Rolls-Royce BR710 turbofan engines. Brazil’s Embraer expects to make 30 deliveries in the next three years, and touch Rs 4,500 crore in sales by 2018.</div><div> </div><table width="600" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="9" cellspacing="9"><tbody><tr><td><img src="/image/image_gallery?uuid=8601fbff-3559-4c5a-bf90-f4bb2c290253&groupId=222852&t=1347701664742" width="500" height="278" vspace="8" hspace="8" align="left" alt="" /></td></tr><tr><td><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0); "><strong>Karan Singh (left), MD, Business Aircraft Operators Associations, says private planes are used more for work and less for entertainment.David Velupillai, MD, Airbus Corporate Jets, says Indian billionaires want home comforts in the air<br /></strong><span style="color: rgb(128, 128, 128); "><strong>(BW Pic (left) by Sanjay Sakaria)</strong></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /> </div><div>But the most popular choice till now has been Hawker Beechcraft, which has sold 35 jets in India (26 per cent of the current market). Even as the US-based company faces debt in its home country, Shawn W. Vick, CEO of its sales arm, told BW in an interview that emerging markets (like India) would be key to its turnaround. So it is not surprising that the company is focusing on countries such as India and China, and on Africa and South America.</div><div> </div><div>Cessna has sold 31 aircraft here, followed by 24 by Bombardier which is, in fact, confident of delivering 325 aircraft in the next eight years. While Dassault and Gulfstream have sold 17 and 15 jets, respectively, according to Firestone Management, Embraer, Boeing and Airbus have sold nine, three and two, respectively. </div><div> </div><table width="200" border="0" align="right" cellpadding="9" cellspacing="9"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center; "><strong><span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 0); ">ANYWHERE BETWEEN $5 MILLION AND $80 MILLION IS SPENT BY BUSINESSMEN ON PRIVATE JETS</span></strong></td></tr></tbody></table><div><strong>Working In Style</strong></div><div>And lest we think of these magnificent flying machines as billionaires’ toys, Karan Singh, managing director of Business Aircraft Operators Associations, clarifies that these are workhorses too. “A CEO who does 400 hours of corporate flying in a year is saving 28 productive days. The luxury is not in getting served champagne or caviar… it is in saving time, improving productivity, efficiency and security.” </div><div> </div><div>While luxury yachts and sports cars could be called ‘toys’, business aircraft mean, well, serious business. “About 90 per cent of the time, business aircraft are used only professionally; 10 per cent is for entertainment,” says Singh.<br /> </div><div>Even if it is business, Indian billionaires sure know how to do it in style.</div><div> </div><div>“They demand the comfort of their homes in air,” says Velupillai, adding that it is not unusual to ask for a temple area to be especially created.</div><div> </div><div>Nick White, vice-president of Air Works India Engineering, a one-stop shop for aircraft maintenance work, says the business of ‘customising wings’ is the way forward. “…24-carat gold-plating of faucets, door knobs, seat-belt buckles; initials of the owner carved on furniture; handmade carpets; hand-stitched leather upholstery of the finest quality… it’s what they want.” Air Works will launch a 6,000-sq. ft workshop-cum-studio in Mumbai in November 2012, for dedicated bespoke services in business aviation. The state-of-the-art studio can expand to 13,000 sq. ft to give clients the look and feel of a real aircraft’s interiors. It has even tied up with luxury auto designer Dilip Chhabria to ensure world-class and extraordinary interiors.</div><div> </div><div>Airbus recently introduced a Phoenix cabin concept for its private aircraft, which can seat six people around a large circular table that can double up as an area for playing cards and board games. A karaoke area is also possible.<br /> </div><div>The CEO of a Delhi-based private charter company, on condition of anonymity, said he recently received a call from a leading Delhi-based businessman’s wife to take a group of 50 people to Maldives for her husband’s 50th birthday bash. “It will cost Rs 80-90 lakh, but the price is no deterrent,” he says.</div><div> </div><div>Speaking of Indian billionaires’ penchant for luxury, Eric H. Roth, owner of International Jet Interiors, which specialises in customised high-end aircraft interiors, once recounted “a client from India who wanted crocodile leather trim throughout his aircraft, including for the centerpiece of the lavatory”. When Roth told him the price ($10,000 for the toilet seat alone), the client smiled and asked him to go right ahead.</div><div> </div><div>bweditor(at)abp(dot)in</div><div> </div><div>(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 24-09-2012)</div>