JAIPUR: If Rajasthan poll rivals want to come out with flying colours, so do chopper-owning firms, sending charter rates soaring.
The charter rates have doubled, even trebled, as the campaign season heats up for the November 25 polls. Officials from aviation companies said single-engine choppers, available at hourly rates of Rs 1 lakh until six months ago, now cost Rs 2 lakh or more. The rates for double-engine choppers have almost doubled to Rs 3-4 lakh.
"Private helicopters, both single-engine and double-engine, have been sold out since mid-September. Leaders of Congress, BJP or RLP (Rashtriya Loktantrik Party) want to hire helicopters but we only have partial availability at present. We are not able to always meet the demands. Mostly single-engine helicopters are sold out till November," said Sohan Singh Nathawat, CEO of the Jaipur-based Aone Helicopters.
Officials said only choppers with charter rates over Rs 5 lakh an hour are available now. "The demand will increase further as most candidates are yet to be declared. Once that is done, they will also look to book choppers for campaigning," Nathawat said.
According to officials of aviation companies, those who have booked choppers so far are mostly leaders likely to contest from a particular seat. The other category is of those who hold key posts in parties and have to crisscross the state at short notice.
Jaipur airport officials confirmed the chopper rush and pointed to a surge in chartered flights since September. The figure went up from 398 in July to 445 in August and 945 in September. Sources estimated the October tally at 1,500-2,000.
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