India’s Private Aviation Boom Outpaces The Sector’s Infrastructure
As India becomes wealthier, business aviation is becoming an essential, but still misunderstood, layer of connectivity that can’t be ignored.
The Gist
Udaipur's recent wedding event highlighted the expanding private aviation industry in India, revealing both its prominence and the challenges it faces.
- India has over 550 private aircraft, making it South Asia's largest general aviation market.
- Challenges include high import duties, bureaucratic friction, and a lack of dedicated infrastructure for business aviation.
- Despite the sector's growth, private jets are often seen as symbols of luxury rather than essential tools for connectivity.
Udaipur has long hosted high-profile weddings, and this November, the Maharana Pratap Airport yet again saw a busy few days thanks to the Mantena-Gadiraju wedding, a high-profile celebration by two prominent business families that has gone viral on social media.
More than a hundred private jets and charters streamed into the airport as guests like Donald Trump Jr, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bieber, Tiësto, Black Coffee, Cirque du Soleil performers, and a constellation of Bollywood stars landed in the city, turning the airport into a round-the-clock VIP operation.
It was a peek inside a sector that usually operates out of sight: India’s fast-growing private aviation industry, where the movement of the wealthy fuels economic activity far beyond airport gates.
Private aviation in India is expanding faster than the infrastructure, policies, and public perceptions surrounding it. As India becomes wealthier, business aviation is becoming an essential, but still misunderstood, layer of connectivity that can’t be ignored.
Perceptions On Private Jets
India has over 550 private aircraft, including jets, turboprops, and helicopters, making it South Asia’s largest general aviation market. Business aviation accounts for roughly 8-10% of India’s aviation sector, valued at $14.78 billion in 2025.
Even as political leaders concluded a heavy election season flight schedule for the Bihar Assembly Elections, India’s business jet market is bracing for its busiest time of the year. From December to March, weddings, corporate summits, cricket fixtures, and UDAN flights have operator schedules packed. For high-net-worth individuals such as celebrities and corporations, private jets are less about indulgence and more about speedy business and individual travel.
However, despite its booming economy and 13,300 ultra-high-net-worth individuals, India’s private aviation fleet remains modest. The sector continues to battle the perception that private jets are a symbol of indulgence and not infrastructure for productivity and connectivity. Dismissed as luxury, business aviation faces neglect, scepticism, and lost strategic value.
An operator told The Core on the condition of anonymity, “The Indian Prime Minister has encouraged the sector by using it so often, including seaplanes. Yet nothing has been done for it by the government.”
The “Jet-Set Multiplier”
The fact remains that business aviation isn’t just about sleek private jets. In India, it has been expanding rapidly on the back of corporate travel, medical evacuations, and regional links like UDAN. A mix of workhorse turboprops, helicopters, and charters has been flying executives into tier‑II cities, lifting patients in emergencies and even chartering entire SpiceJet or IndiGo aircraft when required.
The ecosystem connects point-to-point links that scheduled airlines can’t profitably offer. Weddings like the one in Udaipur are a more visible example of it.
Challenges For Business Aviation
Despite strong demand, India’s business aviation growth remains shackled by chronic challenges such as bureaucratic friction, fragmented regulation, limited and expensive parking bays, high import duties, and sluggish infrastructure. Congested metros choke apron space in airports, and a weak domestic MRO ecosystem forces operators to fly aircraft abroad for heavy checks — costing operators time and money.
Leasing, a critical component for private aviation globally, remains a weak spot. The government set up GIFT City as a tax‑efficient hub, but it still remains in infancy. Domestic lessors lack scale, financing structures are underdeveloped, and regulatory clarity is evolving. So, most operators continue to lease jets globally from Ireland, Dubai, or Singapore
“Unlike India, in the US, business jets are more than luxury-they’re strategic tax assets. When flown for business, they qualify for bonus depreciation, allowing companies to write off the entire cost in the first year,” Rohit Kapur, founder of The Jet Company, told The Core. America recognises business aviation fuels economic growth. In India, by contrast, jets are dismissed as a token contribution to the treasury, stifling the sector’s potential.
India still lacks a dedicated and comprehensive policy document for aviation. Regulator. Instead, rules are scattered across the Directorate General of Civil Aviation's Civil Aviation Requirements and various Ministry of Civil Aviation guidelines.
“Sadly, Viksit Bharat 2047 offers no dedicated roadmap for business aviation infrastructure,” said Kapur.
Infrastructure Overlooks Business Aviation
Momentum exists, yet progress is painfully slow.
India's airport development guidelines, from the Airport Infrastructure Policy to Greenfield Airport rules, prioritise commercial passenger growth.
General aviation terminals (or terminals that cater to private or business jets) and Fixed Base Operators of FBOs (that provide services for business aviation such as such as fuel, parking and hangar space), remain an afterthought.
FBOs provide the privacy and efficiency that define business aviation through their dedicated lounges, customs and immigration, hangars, refuelling and ground handling. But India has fewer than ten full-service FBOs nationwide. Brazil, by contrast, has more than fifty.
India’s FBO footprint is concentrated at a handful of airports: Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International, Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International, Kochi, and Nagpur’s Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International. Beyond these, only a few other airports host partial general aviation facilities.
Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, the world’s ninth busiest, hosts two FBOs. In January, GMR Airports acquired 49% of Bird Delhi General Aviation Services for $1.8 million, aligning Bird with the airport operator. Indamer MJets, tied to Indamer Technics (50% owned by Adani Defence & Aerospace), recently launched a $20 million FBO with two 32,000-sq-ft hangars, luxury lounges, six private client rooms, crew and customs areas, and integrated immigration and maintenance.
With about 800 monthly movements, Kapur argued Delhi doesn’t need two FBOs, citing price‑sensitive users facing $14,000–$22,000 monthly fees plus surcharges. However, RK Bali, managing director of Business Aircraft Operators Association, believes that Delhi should have three FBOs.
Kanika Tekriwal, founder of JetSetGo, told The Core that the company’s private jet and charter services continue to see “consistent growth,” but warned that infrastructure is failing to keep pace. She said there was a shortfall of FBOs at smaller city airports.
Some regional airports like Lucknow, Kanpur, and Allahabad are now exploring FBO development.
Tekriwal believes that old terminals can be repurposed cost-effectively to cater to business aviation. But this requires a dedicated FBO policy.
Much-awaited terminals for private and business jets at Noida and Navi Mumbai remain in limbo. The Navi Mumbai International Airport, originally promoted as a business aviation hub, has proved to be a costly detour for business jets with higher landing, parking, and handling fees.
“We were seriously planning a base in Mumbai but found the airport charges prohibitive,” said Rajan Mehra, the CEO of Club One Air, India’s leading air charter. As a result, jets are forced to fly empty from Delhi to Mumbai to pick up clients and return on empty legs too.
The Business Aircraft Operators Association warned that both of Mumbai’s airports being operated by the Adani group, could lead to monopoly-driven pricing.
“What the industry needs are small, independent terminals, not flashy GA (general aviation )facilities that burden operators with steep parking and landing fees,” said Kapur.
A Missed Opportunity?
Fractional Ownership is a model that could have expanded access to private flying in India. The concept is simple. Several individuals or companies share ownership of an aircraft, each buying a “fraction” that entitles them to a set number of flying hours per year.
This reduces the cost of private jet access, spreads expenses like maintenance and crew, and offers flexibility, allowing owners to enjoy private aviation without the full financial and operational burden of sole ownership.
It is the model that made NetJets in the US, with over 7,000 owners and 750 jets, a success.
India’s fractional ownership market has yet to take off. “We have been asking for a policy for the past two decades,” an operator said.
In the absence of a policy, operators are forced to function under charter rules that don’t reflect the realities of shared ownership. This regulatory gap creates uncertainty around taxation, liability, and compliance, leaving the model stuck in a grey zone.
High airport charges, steep maintenance costs, and unclear rules further erode the viability of fractional deals. Without supportive regulation, operators struggle to design attractive packages, aircraft remain underutilised, and the model fails to scale.
