Air charter firms expect bookings to gather pace

Bookings for private jets fell by up to 50% in AprilMay from March, following the second Covid wave, which has affected large a large number of people, including the corporations.

According to Sanjay Julka, chief executive, technical, Club One Air, between late March and early April, Club One had received bookings for overseas destinations like the UAE as people moved out of India. Since then, business has been tepid. “Till March, we saw high bookings. But in April-May, we saw a 50% fall,” Julka said.

However, with the second wave receding at a fast pace, Julka expects the recovery in the business aviation sector to begin from June. Meanwhile, some private jet operators have shifted their focus to medevac and emergency services even as they continue to operate with limited workforce as a section of employees have also contracted the infection.

“We are seeing queries go up to 900%; all the enquiries are purely out of necessity from people who fear Covid.

The requests are not coming from our regular customers but from the ones who are pooling all their resources for the fear of not having access to medical facilities,” said Kanika Tekriwal, chief executive and founder, JetSetGo Aviation.