Want to own a business jet? Now, you can take a subscription for one

Owning a private jet just got as easy as buying an OTT subscription. In an initiative that also marks the return of the now defunct low-cost carrier Air Deccan’s former chief revenue officer & head of marketing, John Kuruvilla, to India’s booming aviation sector, a company co-founded by him has unveiled a timeshare programme in the skies with the launch of IndiaJets operations.

The country’s first subscription-based business aviation startup has announced its launch with a fractional ownership model that provides a share in a private jet to business owners and C-suite executives.

Although, as reported by Business Today in October last year, the Ministry of Civil Aviation announced its intent to create an enabling framework to encourage fractional ownership but the proposal is yet to take off.

Thus, the members will have an aircraft at their disposal without having to actually shell out a fortune to buy one. All that one needs to do is take a subscription based on their annual flight requirement for a fixed amount per month and per hour flown. IndiaJets will take care of all the other attendant details such as the hiring of personnel, landing and parking charges, maintenance and variable costs.

“Fractional ownership offers the flexibility, convenience, privacy, tax-and time-saving benefits of aircraft ownership, without the attendant capital expense or management responsibilities. Subscribers can customise their itinerary, set their own schedules, save and maximise the value of their time and travel in comfort in a highly sanitised space,” said John Kuruvilla co-founder & CEO.

Declaring that the twin aspects of safety and reliability would be non-negotiable for IndiaJets, Rajesh Rajan company co-founder & COO Rajesh Rajan claimed, “With vast experience of flying both helicopters and fixed-wing [aircraft] for the Indian Coast Guard and having led some of India’s largest maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities enables us to understand what goes behind the scenes.”

“The IndiaJets membership model will empower smaller businesses to now get the advantage of maximising the value of their time and drive rapid progress in smaller towns. We believe that we will provide this much-needed impetus that businesses in Bharat need to drive growth,” added co-founder & CFO, TGS Gupta.

The company has raised seed funding of $500,000 and currently operates a 6-seater business jet. Taneja Aerospace and Aviation Ltd has participated in the funding round as an institutional investor, alongside other high-net-worth individuals (HNIs).

Depending on the response to the programme, the company plans to induct 32 more medium to large-size jets over the next few years.

The brand IndiaJets is owned and operated by Prive Avion Alliances, a company that was incepted in October 2022.

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