After landing at Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport one might just get a feeling that this is a city of billionaires by seeing a long queue of neatly parked private jets. Heavy congestion at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai is forcing the rich to park their flying machines in Ahmedabad.
The low parking charge in Ahmedabad, a mere one-third of Mumbai’s, is a plus. There are about 20 private jets and choppers parked at Ahmedabad airport. Of these, only five are owned by local business groups Adani and Zydus Cadila.
Besides heavy parking charges at the Mumbai airport, the owners had to shell out high penalty if their planes were parked beyond the allotted time. RK Singh, Director of the Ahmedabad airport, says the higher occupancy at Ahmedabad is due to an increase in parking charges in Mumbai. Some corporate houses are in talks with the Ahmedabad airport for a permanent parking space, says Singh.
Mumbai has a parking facility for 30 private jets but had about 50-odd planes parked there until last December. It was when the DGCA pointed out that stacking of 50 aircraft compromised safety that the Mumbai airport raised the penalty.
Between June and December 2012, the Mumbai airport collected Rs 4 crore in fines. The penal parking charges at Mumbai airport range from Rs 1,000 to Rs 15,000 per hour depending on the weight of the aircraft. The penalty was almost 50 times more than routine parking charges.
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