TLI Staff
New Delhi: High operational costs have driven many air charter operators out of business in the last 3-4 years and the panic around the deadly Coronavirus threatens to worsen the situation. But many firms hope that health concerns would compel high-flying corporates to hire a jet instead of travelling by a scheduled airline providing the much-needed thrust to their business.
Business Aviation Operators Association (BAOA) managing director RK Bali said that flying has been badly affected in the wake of Coronavirus outbreak and general aviation companies were no worse than scheduled commercial airlines like Air India and IndiGo.
He noted that rates for hiring a charter aircraft has been unrealistic and had not seen much improvement in the last many years.
“It is a buyers’ market now. Many operators are unable to recover their cost,” Bali said suggesting the industry needs support from the government for survival.
The expectations range from providing tax concession to deferring interest payments for bank loans and fuels.
Bali’s concerns are not unfounded. In the last 3-4 years, the number of operators as well as the count of aircraft has fallen significantly with the companies finding it unviable to continue in the business.
As per data published by aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the number of non-scheduled air operators in the sector came down to 97 at the end of March, 2019 from 123 in 2015-16. During this period, the number of aircraft fell to 309 from 406 in 2015-16.
Capt Pankaj Chopra, Director (aviation), EIH Aviation, part of Oberoi Hotels & Resorts group concurred with Capt Bali saying that operational cost in terms of handling charges, maintenance and infrastructure cost had gone up exponentially.
“A lot of operators have sold their aircraft in the last one or two year as they did not find the operations viable. Nearly 25-36 aircraft have flown out of the country,” said Capt Chopra.
The industry veteran, however, said that he expected the demand from corporates for charter flights to go up as they avoid travelling in a regular flight to keep health risks at bay.
An executive of private jet operator Pinnacle Aviation also said that demand from corporates should ideally go up due to Corona fears.
While there is uncertainty around demand for smaller jets due to impact of Coronavirus outbreak on economy and business sentiments, helicopter operators have not seen much effect on their businesses barring few cancellations.
Himalayan Heli Services Director and Promoter Harsh Vardhan Sharma said that there was no impact on demand so far and enquiries were coming for services to Shri Amarnath ji and Shri Kedarnath ji shrines.
Himalayan Heli Services is a major player in the highly-fragmented helicopter charter business and provides shuttle services for Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).
“Even I am myself surprised that enquiries for Amarnath ji and Kedarnath ji have been frequently coming. There is no dip in demand for our shuttle service at Vaishno Devi,” Himalayan Heli Services’ Director said.
Out of the total 52 non-scheduled helicopter operators in the country, top 3 operators — Pawan Hans, Global Vectra and Himalayan Heli Services — accounted for nearly 80 per cent of the total number of flights operated in the year 2018-19.