Air show raises big biz hopes

HYDERABAD: India Aviation 2010, the second edition of India’s civil aviation show has kept afloat the hopes of those who have trooped in from across the globe to do some serious business in the Indian market.  Like Max E Wiley, vice-president (sales), Asia-Pacific, Bell Helicopter, who is excited about the huge interest the company’s latest offering - Bell 429 — has created among prospective buyers at the show.  “We have at least five serious enquiries from the corporate and oil and gas segment and we expect to convert all of them into orders within just 30 days,” said Wiley, who can’t stop grinning from ear to ear. After all selling five choppers in just three days flat at one event is no small feat. 

“After being certified last July, this is the first country in Asia-Pacific that we are displaying the Bell 429 in and we have already sealed five commitments,” says Wiley, who had participated in the first edition of the show as well. 

So is the second edition better than the first? “I feel the market has matured this time around and the event is also functioning much better,” says Wiley happily. Ditto for Manoj Pandey, COO, Thrust Aviation Services Pvt Ltd, who may be a bit cut up about the fact that the public was allowed to walk in on days restricted to business customers, but is happy about the fact that he has over half a dozen serious queries and confirmed orders for his paramotoring products that start with a price tag of a modest Rs 3.5 lakh. 

“We got three confirmed orders for our backpack paramotor offering at the show. While one is a farmer from Chiplun, another is a agri-businessman from Aurangabad and the third is a businessman from Delhi. We would have liked to have been able to focus more on serious business participants but there was too much public milling around even on days when the event was supposed to be open only for business participants,” says Pandey, whose firm has specially flown down British paramotoring champ Dean Elridge to give a flying demo of the machine that’s worn like a backpack and is hooked to a parachute. 

The airshow has also meant 7-8 serious prospective customers for Enstrom choppers, which is represented in India by its dealer Monarch International.  “In the last three years we have sold nearly seven helicopters in India, so getting an equal number of prospective clients in just three days is pretty good,” feels Kapil Mishra, AGM (business development-aviation), Monarch International, who had walk-in customers like a small-time builder from Pune, who is all set to buy a Rs 2.5 crore worth three-seater Enstrom chopper.