Meet the Man Who Always Sees the Glass Half-full, Club One Air CEO Rajan Mehra

While civil aviation sector is getting a major boost from the government especially with the RCS (Regional Connectivity Scheme) up and running, Rajan Mehra thinks the trickledown of perks will bring many good changes for business aviation (BA) too. Heading one of India’s leading luxury charter services, Mehra has also played a key role in the launch and business set up of Qatar Airways, Finnair and Asiana Airlines in India.

“There’s a lot negativity all around...even with business aviation operators. But that’s because they are not professional or are too small so they have a very myopic view of looking at things. But if one looks at the overall picture, they will find that if we get more professional and the business aviation operators get our act together, we can make things happen in a very positive way,” he says of the issues being faced by the sector. In fact, during the course of his stint with Club One Air, Rajan has had conversations with Prime Minister Modi at several conference and summits and says that he finds him to be very positive towards the sector.

Experts believe that country’s economic growth is co-related with business aviation. Do you think the decelerated GDP for this fiscal year will affect BA?

I’m extremely optimistic, GDPs may go up or down but the businesses will keep growing. With such a small percentage of people flying and using business jets right now, it’s easy to see that there are very positive chances of growth, regardless of GDP.

What do you think will be the major issues for BA this year?

Before speaking about the issues, I want to tell you what’s working for us. I think the future is really bright for business aviation. India, with just 1.5% of people flying and a 300 million strong middle class that’s growing, it doesn’t take rocket science to see that aviation, and business aviation in particular, has a lot of scope for growth. Indian businesses are realising the need to reach smaller towns and cities with poor or nonexistent connectivity. So, they understand the need of business aviation vis-à-vis commercial flights. Time is money now, literally, which wasn’t the case as much earlier.

“There’s a lot negativity all around...even with business aviation operators. But that’s because they are not professional or are too small so they have a very myopic view of looking at things,” says Mehra.

However, the major issue so far has been the mindset of the government and people which reduce business jets to things for the rich and famous. This has led to past several governments to ignore BA because they never thought it could excite the common man or it would label them as pro-rich. The good news is that this government and the Prime Minister, in particular, are aware that business aviation can be an engine for economic growth. Not to say that it’s all hunky-dory now especially with taxation and the limited infrastructure, but at least the mindset has changed. The government’s regional connectivity plans will help us too because we will also get to use the airstrips and infrastructure.”

Do you think the luxury tag associated with BA is a stigma?

The luxury tag is not a bad thing. Of course, there are celebrities who book planes only for the luxury and then there are customers who use business jets or helicopters for weddings, this sector will always remain and so will the tag. But BA companies need to target different customers in different ways, there’s a market for every segment. If you have 8-9 business men flying and you look at the business class fares of airlines, you will find that they can reach their destination and return faster in a business jet by paying just a fraction more than the cost of flying commercial.

“President Kovind told me, ‘Rajan, you let me know when you want to come and we will have a cup of tea in the Rashtrapati Bhawan’.”

So.. is it a conscious decision to stick to ‘Luxury jet charters’ in Club One Air tagline?

We do because a large majority of our customers are the ones who want opulence and comfort. But we do have smaller jets with lesser sops for those clients who just want to reach their destination on time at an affordable price. We don’t take away the luxury tag but we target them in a different way, looking at affordability too.

With a slew of ‘Uber for the skies’ apps on the rise, has the competition risen for Club One especially with their heavily discounted rates?

No, it hasn’t, simply because there are very few structured charter companies in India. Most of these are just brokers, they don’t own planes. Yes, their fares may be much lower than ours but over the years we have built a formidable reputation for quality service, dependability and reliability. People, who use business jets, know the value of time and they know we are reliable. If we can’t provide a plane at the last minute, we replace the plane even if it’s one in a higher price range and our customers know it. Our service has been tested over the years and when you combine these factors they find that the extra money is worth it.

With majority of the airports congested, do you think private business jet airports are a feasible idea?

Infrastructure constraints will probably be the biggest reason to stifle grown in aviation, especially business aviation. So, the government seems to have its priorities right but needs to speed up because as a country we are out-pricing ourselves for the business aviation operators. Things may improve down the line but as of now I don’t see how to combat these issues. We are tackling the problem by avoiding rush airports and placing our planes in smaller airports such as Udaipur, Surat etc. Europe and the US, have a lot of FBOs that can be called mini terminals for business jets with crew restrooms, conference rooms, even customs and immigrations. Bird ExecuJet and Indamer are making FBOs in Delhi but we need to have more of those in smaller cities so that business jets can have a clearance port of their own and miss the rush of the main terminals because the main reason someone flies on a business jet is to save time and that is getting diluted at the moment.

How’s your stint with business aviation been so far?

I started from the commercial aviation space with Japan Airlines (JAL) because I was interested in aviation, not in flying as much. I’m happy that my first workplace was JAL because the Japanese instill professionalism and values in you that last a lifetime. Now, at Club One Air, the best part is meeting new people. Like when Mr Ram Nath Kovind, who’s now the President, was canvassing he travelled with us for 15 days and before heading out he would join me for a cup of tea every day. On the last day, I told him ‘After tomorrow I’ll never get to see you because you will be the President of India and who can go inside the Rashtrapati Bhawan?’, but he’s such a good man, he laughed and said, ‘It’s nothing like that, Rajan, you let me know when you want to come and we will have a cup of tea in the Rashtrapati Bhawan’. It’s an evolving experience.