[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Raulspace999

Discussing the fleet of one of our top MNCs on a public forum might make them susceptible for sabotage or even discussing their location at csia might raise security concerns about the itineraries of these planes.

Where a MNCs plane is parked is not classified information. If he filed a flight plan it is by definition available in the public domain.

And there are hundreds if not thousands of websites where you can find information about the whereabouts of military ships and planes. Most often maintained by enthusiast.

Jeroen

[Rajain]

Several MNCs have their own aviation fleets. Top CEOs fly around the globe on company planes. I would also include helicopters.

Some top companies actually don't have their own jet fleet even when they can afford. This could be because they don't want the reputation tag that comes with it or don't want an impression of being wasteful or even ostentatious in their money management.

The time at a CEO level (or board level) is such that if flying commercial they are holding 3-4 first class tickets of flights at different times in the day. It depends on their schedule what time their meeting ends and what next flight is available to take them to their next destination. This means minimum downtime for business hours.

Then there are those who have reserved seats in commercial planes and get a quick priority even when booked at the last minutes. The usual procurement negotiation of volume and pricing. Several MNCs also hold travel security policies of limiting the number of staff in each plane.

I can easily think of more than 45-50 business houses (there could well be more) in India who have their own planes. Around the world several hundred MNCs have their own planes. Obviously the paraphernalia that comes along - pilots, crew, ground staff, handlers, liaison officers, security, cars/jeeps, engineers, small hanger, AMC, parts, service, insurance, parking charges etc.

It is an expensive hobby (or business perk). There have been those who could not afford and their planes have been 'attached' back by the lender or be sold off.

Then there are those companies who organise charters as well. Obviously those with deep pockets will charter planes. That is also a well organised industry - both within India and around the world.

As rightly said, perks of the job.

Cheers

Rajain

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Rajain

As rightly said, perks of the job.

Well, I can't speak for all CEO's, but I definitely know a few for whom I would say it isn't so much as an perk, as a necessity. Some of these guys have punishing schedules across the globe and flying commercial just wont allow them to stick to their time tables.

They literally go from one (customer) meeting to the next, hotels are only used for showering. The only sleep they get is on their plane.

Jeroen

[D33-PAC]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Well, I can't speak for all CEO's, but I definitely know a few for whom I would say it isn't so much as an perk, as a necessity. Some of these guys have punishing schedules across the globe and flying commercial just wont allow them to stick to their time tables.

They literally go from one (customer) meeting to the next, hotels are only used for showering. The only sleep they get is on their plane.

Jeroen

Isn't there also an issue of security ? This may sound like a Hollywood movie script but I'd imagine a hedge fund would LOVE to know about the travel schedule of a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, and then maybe they can calibrate some kind of news announcement pattern based on where the CEO is headed and the firm's association with other firms in the area the CEO has landed/keeps landing in.

I can't imagine the CEO of a Fortune 500 company traveling commercial for one reason, he could be sitting next to a CFA or a hotshot stock trader (who obviously wouldn't reveal his credentials) who recognizes him and his stature and then goes on to extract via small talk all the non-public material information about the company .

[TheLizardKing]

As an employee of RIL for the last few years, I've flown on company planes a few times, mostly to Jamnagar and once to Rajahmundry. It's always a great kick!

Having said that, the demand is so high that it's almost impossible for middle management employees like me to get a seat on the company flight.

Feel free to ask questions, and I'll answer the ones I can without losing my job. Oh, and in case you are thinking about asking for pictures, I'm sorry to disappoint you. Photography is strictly prohibited, and enforced by the security team at boarding and deplaning.

Here are all the pictures I have that I can share. Taken with a mobile camera, so please excuse the quality.



The inside of one of the aircrafts.



The Airworks hangar next door.



A military chopper parked close by.



Aaj main upar, aasman neeche! <cheesy>



Hello Earth!

[maddy42]

Nice to see Reliance have their own airlines rather than use a Charter. A company their size needs it!

In the US certain processor maker have flights flying between two of their locations on a daily basis. So if you have to travel to the other location for their day hop on their flight in the morning and come back in the evening.

Also there is a huge co ownership market in the states, you could own a flight for maybe a 3rd of the year and thus share the maintenance costs. This is recommended for the new rich like rappers who cannot deal with all the sudden fortune and zero money management skills.

There is also a brand of Instagram boys or trust fund babies like the famous Dan bilzerian or the dell Boy who have their own planes for their fancy life styles.

Majority of the Fortune 500 CEOs I believe have their own planes. Berkshire Hathaway has planes and vehicles to ferry their famous founder around, while media portrays him as simple and one who bought a second hand as his daily driver. Yes Warren buffets daily drive is a used truck.

Can someone share other planes of the other companies in india?
Lizard king , please remove the picture of the interiors with the other employees. Some folks can be really thin skinned which could hurt your job.

Maddy

[D33-PAC]

Originally Posted by TheLizardKing

Feel free to ask questions, and I'll answer the ones I can without losing my job.

1. Any idea which plane PMS Prasad flys around in ?

2. I have a ridiculously long family relation with PMS Prasad, but one of my family members claimed that his kids are jetted in Reliances' plane to Stanford where they study. Can someone like him use company planes for such personal use ?

3. Why does Reliance need an A320 ? They could have had a Dassault 7X or a Gulfstream G650.

Originally Posted by maddy42

Can someone share other planes of the other companies in india?

Maddy

Sorry, don't really have the energy to go get pics now. But here are a few names; GMR, GVK, Bharat Forge, Religare, Bajaj, Poonawalla/Serum Institute of India, DLF, Essar Group, Jindal Steel Group, Airtel/Sunil Mittal so on so forth.

And keep in mind that lots of planes are bought during the upcycle but they're also sold when business gets bad. The net gain over a period of time is very marginal, so the difference stays more or less the same but the owners change and so do the models !

There are many more in India that actually fly in private jets but they don't buy them. But the biggest of bigshots actually buy them, maintain them, and have a full time crew (such as the listed).

[raghu.t.k]

A nice thread, and nice set of "toys"!! Also dont they have helis as well. Some time back there was a news of sabotage on one of their helis. The pilots of these have a nice job. Not sure how they compare to the commercial ones.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by raghu.t.k

A nice thread, and nice set of "toys"!! Also dont they have helis as well. Some time back there was a news of sabotage on one of their helis. The pilots of these have a nice job. Not sure how they compare to the commercial ones.

When we lived in the USA I knew several pilots that worked for corporates. When it comes to their financial compensation it varies a lot. None of them made anything near what a typical senior wide body captain of one of the main carriers would make. There might be the odd exception of course.

But they all loved the flying because it took them all over the world and they had more autonomy over their flight planning then most commercial pilots. Also, they flew to many different destinations. Also, most of the new generations of business jets are very nice and very advanced planes. So often a pilots wet dream.

Even so, most did aspire to end up in the left seat of a wide body working for one of the big carriers. Commanding and Flying a 747, 777 or a 380 for many commercial pilots is the highest achievable career goal.

So the business jet crews are also some sort of training pool for the carriers. As essentially al General Aviation is in the USA. Most US pilot will log several thousand hours before they find themselves applying for a position at the big carriers. Very different from most countries where your copilot of your 737 or 320 could have just a few hundred hours under his/her belt.

If you ever see a copy of the Aviation magazine Flyer have a look. They have contributors from commercial as well as GA and these sort of business aviation sectors describing their lives as pilots in these sectors. No matter what, all pilots always love what they are doing!

[MacBa]

More from a personal experience, people in the west (especially the corporates) are far more prone to owning a jet/coptor as they have more no. of airports in every city. The US for example has multiple landing strips in most of its counties (read towns). Since the commercial airlines can't provide you connectivity to every town, one has no choice but to opt for a private jet. Switching flights in this case turns out to be time consuming, expensive and offers the hassle of taking multiple modes of transportation to arrive the destination.

For Info, the governor of every state has a coptor if not a jet which is also used for economic development purposes at times.

RIL seems to be facing similar constraints where its employees clearly prefer to take jets rather than commercial airlines to arrive at the desired destination without losing much time.

[kilireddy0]

No surprise. All the corporation even small try and get chartered jets. It is just worth the money for them in terms of time and efficiency. I remember once Warren Buffet who lives very humbly according to standards of billionaires, Buffet says that having a private jet makes his life better and easier as he needs to do a considerable amount of traveling as the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Imagine being in four cities in a single day or for that matter different countries back to back. Finding connections and waiting would take away everything.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by MacBa

For Info, the governor of every state has a coptor if not a jet which is also used for economic development purposes at times.

.

No they don't:

http://helenair.com/news/local/panel...b54c8bfc4.html

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/g...e2444d510.html

[Ashokkp]

hi

Just a quick note. VT in the callsign of India registered Aircraft mean VICEROY's TERRITORY- Hangover of the colonial days.

Cheers

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Ashokkp

hi



Just a quick note. VT in the callsign of India registered Aircraft mean VICEROY's TERRITORY- Hangover of the colonial days.



Cheers

To add, VT isn't a call sign or part of an Indian call sign necessarily. I m basing my understanding of call sign primarily on how it is in Europe and USA, but I assume it is near identical for India.

The VT is part of an Indian registration code. As a general rule private airplanes will use it as part of their call sign. Commercial planes typically have a company specific call sign with a route (flight number) specific part to it. So they don't use VT in their call sign.

So if I fly my privately owned Single engine Cirrus, with registration VT-ABCD my call sign would be Cirrus VT-ABCD. In practice many pilots and even ATCwould just use ABCD and leave out the Cirrus part and the VT part. Technically at least the VT should be added. Because the combination ABCD could be used for different aircraft registered in different countries. So their could be a VT-ABCD and a N-ABCD. So an Indian and North American plane.

In practice I have never or at least very rarely heard the use of the country part of the call sign being used. Mind you, most my piloting was done in the USA and some in Europe.

So a real example, I flew a Cirrus with registrations N-CV747. N means its registered in the USA. But for I would use the call sign Cirrus CV747 and as long as Im talking to the same controller after the first exchange I would drop Cirrus and would call and acknowledge with CV747 only.


Now, if I would fly say an Boeing 747 for Air India, with registration VT-XYZ its call sign would be Air India 1234 ( the 1,2,3,4 would be the actual flight number)

Some airlines have a very specific call sign. So for instance all British Airways Flight have the call sign Speedbird + flight number.

Typically, wide body aircraft add the term "heavy" to their call sign. So a BA 747 would be known by the call sign Speedbird 1234 Heavy. The heavy is added to ensure ATC is fully aware that this is wide body aircraft which means it has restrictions on speed, manoevrabillity, separation with other traffic etc.

So the actual usage of the country specific part in the call sign is limited in private aviation and doesn't apply to commercial aviation at all.

Would love to hear if things are different in India
Jeroen

[mashmash]

A cousin of mine was asked to travel Business Class to attend an interview at the Director Level. Its a Perk that comes with the Job for the individual and a status symbol for the company. I wonder what the Perks are for individuals in Apple, Google and the like.

MaSh