As per the latest Airports Authority of India (AAI) data, general aviation aircraft movements in January rose 43.3% from a year ago to 26,890. In February, movements of these non-military, non-commercial aircraft rose 13.9% to 27,360. Between April 2024 and February 2025, India saw 2.53 lakh charter flight movements, up 19.7% on year.
Religious tourism impact
In the first two months of this year, private jet companies witnessed a strong demand due to the Maha Kumbh held in Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh.
“Approximately 10% of our revenue during that period (Maha Kumbh) was linked to travel surrounding the religious event,” said Kanika Tekriwal, founder and CEO, JetSetGo.
“Religious tourism has emerged as a strong growth driver, especially for helicopter operations. This segment has now become an integral part of our portfolio and is expected to grow further with upcoming events and pilgrimage circuits,” said Rajan Mehra, CEO of Club One Air.
The industry expects a growth of 10-20% in bookings in 2025.
Rajesh K. Bali, managing director of Business Aircraft Operators Association (BAOA), said that religious tourism can really boost demand for the sector. “There has been a significant uptick in travel to religious destinations such as Prayagraj, Uttarakhand, and Amritsar. The surge in religious tourism represents the next frontier of growth for the industry,” Bali said.
Tekriwal, however, said that demand linked to religious tourism tends to be episodic and difficult to forecast with precision. “In the case of Maha Kumbh, we saw a spike in requests once the event was underway, indicating that bookings often follow real-time shifts in interest rather than long-term planning. We remain to be responsive to such seasonal trends and religious events,” said Tekriwal.
The road ahead
The industry is witnessing a rising demand for charter planes, not only on metro to metro routes, but also on non-metro sectors. JetSetGo is seeing a high demand in sectors like Mumbai–Delhi, Bengaluru–Hyderabad, and emerging commercial clusters such as Indore, Surat and Bhopal.
“JetSetGo has observed a steady growth of 10% in the first quarter of 2025, compared to the same period last year. We are seeing consistent repeat usage from corporate houses, senior executives, and business families,” said Tekriwal.
“We continue to operate at a CAGR of 28%, and the current booking pipeline indicates that the upcoming quarter will follow this path.” On the other hand, BAOA’s Bali anticipates industry-wide demand to grow at an annual rate of 15–20%. Additionally, the government may consider including smaller aircraft, up to six seats under the UDAN scheme,” said Bali.
UDAN is a regional connectivity scheme aimed at making air travel more affordable.
Similarly, Club One Air has seen a surge in demand in the first quarter of 2025 driven by demand for religious and leisure destinations. “We’ve recorded a 20% increase in our business activity over the same period last year,” said Mehra of Club One Air. He expects demand to start picking up by August–September as both corporate travel and destination tourism regain momentum.
Supporting private air travel
The industry is of the view that as disposable incomes of Indians are rising, there will be heightened awareness around private air travel. But it also expects some support measures from the government to grow further.
BAOA’s Bali feels the government needs to cut duty on imports of small aircraft. “Specifically to boost religious tourism, customs duty on small aircraft and helicopters should be abolished. Additionally, the government may consider including smaller aircraft, up to six seats under the UDAN scheme,” said Bali.
JetSetGo’s Tekriwal feels that while the demand is constantly growing, the government must ensure infrastructure growth matches this pace. “There needs to be an evolution in policies to address challenges around aircraft parking, slot allocations, and last-mile access to regional airports,” said Tekriwal.
Mehra feels that there are a few structural challenges that need to be addressed by the government. High taxes on aviation turbine fuel and import duties on private jets continue to burden the industry.
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