The Aero India airshow, held last month at its traditional venue of Yelahanka Air Force Station, located just outside the IT and business capital of Bangalore, has traditionally been dominated by military programs and displays rather than the multibillion-dollar signings of civilian sales that are the norm at most other major expositions. The big airline makers are more or less a secondary attraction at this event, with business aviation–as one of the major private jet makers lamented–“still a distant third place.” However, observers predict that that will not be the case for long. To help the process along, Bombardier, Cessna, Dassault and Raytheon displayed aircraft there for the first time.
The business jet is becoming an increasingly necessary piece of equipment for large and expanding corporations in India. Until recently, business jets were seen as expensive toys for well heeled Indian magnates to use to display their wealth conspicuously. But this trend is changing, explained Luis Carlos Affonso, Embraer’s senior vice president for the corporate aviation market.
