State of Indian Business Aviation

While the aviation stocks are buzzing ever since the grand budget reveal, the New Year doesn’t seem to have brought any respite for business aviation operators. For starters, the glaring omission from Arun Jaitley’s aviation-centric speech has made many uneasy about the future of general aviation. “There is nothing to speak about the budget as long as we are concerned, honestly. They are not treating us in any way, not motherly, not step-motherly, not fatherly...I mean there wasn’t even a mention about us in the budget. So, it doesn’t matter. It’s disappointing, but then this budget is focused on a different segment of the society, so we aren’t surprised,” says Rohit Kapur, President of Business Aircraft Operators Association (BAOA).

However, good things come to those who wait is adage to hold on to for the operators. For starters, the BAOA’s victories such as reduction in the time period of landing permits for foreign registered aircrafts, the increase of Extended Diversion Time Operations (EDTO) and scrapping of the YA number, have been a long time coming. While things look a tad brighter now, there’s still a long way to go especially with a host of new issues replacing the old ones such as differential custom duty making way for differential GST.

REGIONAL CONNECTIVITY SCHEME

BA jets have been connecting the trunk routes with remote areas for eons, so, surely there may be some trickle-down for general aviation? Well, yes and no. “It’s hard to say right now because most of the business jets are small, like 8-9 seater or 14-15 at the very most. It’s also difficult to say how they will play a role in regional connectivity if 50 per cent seats are going to be subsidised. Also, at this point business aviation doesn’t really require any subsidies from the government. I think all they need is infrastructure and understanding of business aviation issues,” says Rajan Mehra, CEO, Club One Air. However, if not for the UDAN subsidies, the revamped infrastructure for the RCS may just prove beneficial for the operators. “This government is looking at infrastructure very positively. They are not doing it for the business aviation but for regional connectivity. However, it helps us indirectly because we get to use the air strips too,” says Mehra. Though, this assumption is not without its pit-falls.

The majority of upcoming regional airports under the scheme will be the no-frills version, which the BAOA president feels may just be an issue. He says, “RCS will do well but whether it will trickle down to grow our industry vis-à-vis infrastructure remains a big question mark. I am not so optimistic because it is not set up for the kind of audience we cater to.”

INFRASTRUCTURE

While operational issues such as ATF cost, heavy import taxes in the sector are short-term, the lack of infrastructure looms large. “This is probably the biggest hurdle. How do you grow without infrastructure?” says Mehra. The upcoming FBO facilities courtesy Bird Execujet and Indamer have received a lukewarm response despite being the desperate need of the hour. The delays in setting up notwithstanding, monopoly by DIAL (Delhi International Airport Limited) to apprehensions about not decreasing the turnaround time and lack of technology, questions are being raised whether they are really solving a problem. Founder of plane aggregator JetSetGo, Kanika Tekriwal says that the Indian FBOs have a long way to go. “They aren’t delivering product in a quality that is required in India. We still have to send our planes out for major checks, there are no engine shops here, so this is what they really have to focus on. They need to build a robust system which is not only comparable but far superior to what we see abroad,” she says.

This is probably the biggest hurdle. How do you grow without infrastructure?

The FBOs, abroad, can be called mini terminals for business jets with crew restrooms, conference rooms, even customs and immigrations. Mehra says, “We need FBOs in smaller cities too so that business jets can have a clearance port of their own and missing the rush of the main terminals because the main reason someone flies on a business jet is to save time and that is getting diluted at the moment.”

Meanwhile, Rohit Kapur urges Ministry of Finance to rightfully plan for BA’s existence in the new airports. He says, “In the first stage of privatisation, we weren’t planned for but now, the plans for new airports should cater to our requirements and our growth too.”

The aviation boom has left airports full to capacity with commercial airlines getting priority in terms of parking slots, landing, etc because general aviation is largely not considered a public service. Many of the private charters are tackling the problem by avoiding rush airports and placing the planes in smaller airports such as Udaipur, Surat, etc.

TECHNOLOGY: 2000 AND TOO LATE

E-payment of any sorts in AAI controlled airports is a baby step towards the right direction i.e. becoming digitised. Reams of paperwork, permissions and clearances presently required almost kill the purpose of flying in a business jet- to save time. If all that were to be digitised to an extent, things would be simpler and quicker. And, Tekriwal seems to be already on it. She says, “We are doing a lot of innovative maintenance right now, where we repair parts before their time without giving them a chance to get spoilt. We are also working on a software that helps us reduce fuel consumption. Hopefully by 2020, we would be completely digitised,” pointing out that you can’t even order handling without typing a mail or making a call.

What it boils down to it the ‘very commercial airliner mindset of the people sitting in DGCA,’ according to Kapur, which in turn leads to over-regulations. “The biggest change that needs to be brought about is to have more professionals in the regulatory authority rather than bureaucrats because you need to have a knowledge bank that understands what the aviation industry is going through and bring about change,” says Tekriwal, adding, “There are no different laws or regulations for the private aviation industry. The nature of the industry is completely different, the only thing similar is that they both fly planes.”