ETA-Ascon Star taps into India's rising demand for corporate jets

Dubai: The ETA-Ascon Star Group is seeking to build a solid business jet infrastructure in India by redeveloping hundreds of its small airstrips for the country's growing corporate segment, a top official said.

The group, with an annual sales revenue of $5.69 billion, entered the aviation business by setting up Star Aviation in India earlier this year.

It has launched ETA Star Jet for the corporate jet market in the Gulf.

The company is willing to invest in developing airstrips and helipads wherever needed.

"We have entered the executive jet business by setting up a new company, ETA Star Jet, to serve the growing needs of corporate clients across the region," Hameed Salahuddin, director of ETA-Ascon Star Group, told Gulf News in a recent interview.

"We are acquiring three aircraft to start with and we will unveil this during the next Middle East Business Aviation conference in Dubai."

He said the company will expand its fleet in the coming years as demand for business jet grows.

"However, the biggest demand is expected from the Indian market as the economy is on a fast-track growth. Corporate India has moved to the next generation that needs fast transit facilities across the country."

India is currently developing a number of business and industrial parks and economic zones that need air strips or helipads for business leaders to travel back and forth.

Lack of facilities

"There is already a strong need for these services. However, the facilities are not in place. We want to fill up that gap," he said.

India, one of the world's fastest growing economy, is currently expanding its urban communities into remote townships that, in terms of air connectivity, are isolated from the mega cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata.

India's aviation sector is yet to expand to its fullest capacity as private airlines are making headway to fill up the gap created by growing demand.

"In many of these cities, the airport infrastructure does not allow the hi-flying executives to travel with business jets.

"There is a need to develop the facilities and infrastructure so that they could have a fruitful meeting with officials and have a quick turnaround back to their offices." If the Indian government permits, then ETA Ascon Star Group would invest in creating the executive jet facilities, called fixed-base operations (FBO) across all airports in India, while expanding its own business jet fleet to serve corporate India.

Approvals

"We are already in touch with the Indian airport officials to develop the facilities and systems," Salahuddin said.

"The demand is already there in India. We just have to place the systems and facilities in place, using the existing airport infrastructure to facilitate the services, which will save valuable time of these officials. Currently they spend days in commuting to and from their offices to hold meeting."

ETA Ascon Star Group was established in 1973 as a joint venture under the UAE's Abdullah Al Ghurair Group.

The group's network spread across 16 verticals and 140 entities with associate offices in 22 countries and employs more than 72,000 people.