India’s first private jet terminal in Delhi sees 25% growth since launch in middle of pandemic

General Aviation Terminal, meant specifically for chartered flights, was launched by Delhi International Airport Limited that runs Delhi's IGI Airport, in Sept 2020.

General Aviation Terminal | Special arrangement

New Delhi: The Indian aviation industry may still be reeling from the impact of the pandemic, but the new terminal for private jets and chartered flights in the national capital has seen surge since its launch nearly six months ago.

The Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), a GMR Group-led consortium that runs the Indira Gandhi International Airport, launched India’s first General Aviation Terminal (GAT), meant specifically for chartered flights, on 18 September 2020.

The GAT has seen 25 per cent growth since its launch — from 96 passengers per day earlier to around 120 now, according to company data.

The domestic-to-international passenger travel ratio stands at 90:10. The number of air traffic movements per day is also up from 24 in September 2020 to 30 now, the data showed.

This comes even as India’s domestic air traffic is currently seen running at around 80 per cent of the 2019 figures.

Terminal capacity — 50 passengers an hour, 150 jets daily

A joint venture between Bird Group and ExecuJet Aviation Group, the GAT was built at a cost of Rs 150 crore. It is reportedly made completely in India.

It spans 8 lakh square feet area and is equipped with 57 dedicated bays for parking of general aviation aircraft, city side parking, passenger lounges, food and beverage sections, personal concierge services and common processing area with customs and immigrations, among other services.

The GAT can cater to 50 passengers an hour and fly 150 private jets daily. It follows all coronavirus safety measures and cuts down transit time between the aircraft and the city side from 45 minutes to 5 minutes.

“The terminal serves as an iconic gateway to India for business and leisure travellers and it signifies our recognition of the positive economic impact the general aviation industry has on this community,” said Videh Kumar Jaipuriar, chief executive, DIAL.

The GAT fulfills “a long standing demand of India’s uber rich to cater to their private jets”, the company website says.

“Delhi Airport has been India’s busiest airport even in these Covid-19 times. As more routes are opening up and the number of passengers is growing, it gives us immense pleasure to see an increasing trend in General Aviation traffic at Delhi Airport,” Jaipuriar said.

“This exceptional performance is due to the airport’s status as the second safest airport in the world for its efficiency in handling airport operations smoothly even during the pandemic,” he added.

Private jet flying has become more expensive

Delhi-based private jet operators believe the facility has been a refreshing change for the service they provide, which has seen a spike in demand owing to the pandemic, even as some raised concerns over costs.

“The demand for private jets has increased dramatically due to Covid. Whoever has money is choosing to take a private jet. With this General Aviation Terminal, people are actually buying time — movement has become very swift,” said Archit Gupta, CEO of Atom Aviation, a private jet provider that operates 12-15 flights every month from the GAT.

“Most of the requirements are for domestic travel, international travel is few and far in between,” he said.

Kanika Tekriwal, CEO and founder of private operator JetSetGo Aviation, echoed this, but with a caveat.

“Covid has given rise to many first-time private jet flyers. They are opting for this service if their children are unwell or they have ill parents, but now people are opening up to holidaying as well,” she told ThePrint.

“While passenger movement has increased from August 2020 to now, there isn’t a particular surge in demand from this time last year,” Tekriwal noted.

JetSetGo Aviation operates around three flights a day out of GAT, which are primarily domestic.

Tekriwal also raised concerns over the cost and quality at GAT. “It’s made private flying very expensive. The cost of handling has doubled but there is no relative increase in service.”

She said quality at the terminal is not at par with international airports. There remain privacy concerns with just one large room serving as waiting area.

Tekriwal stressed how time saved is the only saving grace even as she underlined instances of immigration officials not being present.

Meanwhile, Gupta believes the hourly passenger load should be increased from 50 to 70-75. “Everybody wants to fly in the morning at around 8 am… it tends to get crowded. The upper limit should thus be increased owing to the surge in demand,” he said.

While this is India’s first such terminal, several in the US have given rise to 1,179,200 jobs and an economic output of $246.8 billion — underlining the benefits of having such facilities.

“With the support of more such high-end infrastructure, the general aviation industry will prosper and contribute to Indian economy in many ways like increased connectivity, industrial trips, medical evacuations, tourism, etc,” the company website notes.

Court battle

The GAT facility, however, has been embroiled in a case of copyright theft.

The project was initially conceived between Bird ExecuJet and Dubai-based aviation firm Martin Consulting, which began in 2017 with the latter’s role being to “design, develop and implement state of the art aircraft parking stands, the terminal operating standard and the concept ideation”.

But in February last year, Martin Consulting CEO Mark Martin filed a police complaint against GMR-DIAL officials, and served DIAL a cease and desist notice to immediately withdraw from using its design and drawings.

Martin alleged that “GMR took over the final construction of the terminal at a stage when technical designing works including initial land development managed and overseen by Martin Consulting was completed”.

But Bird ExecuJet maintained that it “is the rightful owner of all such work under the terms of the contract and copyright laws”.

A year on, the matter is pending final adjudication.