The largest-selling business jet in the world is sold by him. Still, Nigel Harwood-led InterGlobe General Aviation has had a modest two years in the past. B&E takes a running interview of Nigel to get the dope on flying by Steven Philip Warner
It was not a typical first day at office for Nigel Harwood, the newly-appointed CEO and President of InterGlobe General Aviation (IGGA) – InterGlobe Enterprise’s business aviation arm. This Preston-born expatriate confesses to B&E that he was given the “conference room” as his office and a staff list that had “no other name but his own”, when he took the hot seat in June 2007. His task was clear – use the experience gained at Airbus, Kingfisher and Rolls Royce to the hilt and set a benchmark for business aviation in a country, which had seen many high-rises in the civil aviation space turn to rubble; the stigma – Rs.70 billion lost in 2009, as per CAPA.
But Harwood was hopeful. He sat down with a mug of coffee and a blank sheet and jotted down a list of tasks in the order of priority. “The first point was to find a secretary,” Hardwood jests. It took him and his newly recruited team four months to score their first hunt – a brand new Hawker 900XP, worth $15 million.
Three years hence, what started as an outfit for selling Hawker Beechcraft aircrafts in India, has grown into a full aviation portfolio, with long term agreements with Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, Dornier Seapne Company and most recently, Pacific Aerospace. Growth apparently stood a better chance in the industry Hawker aircraft operated in [John Siddharth, Aerospace Analyst at Frost & Sullivan tells B&E, while talking about IGGA’s business model, “Civil & Business Aviation cater to two different segments. However, from an Indian investor’s perspective, Business Aviation is definitely a better bet.”]
In a country, where being in the business of air travel can be difficult, IGGA has managed to miss the bullets. One reason clearly is that IGGA did not enter the industry as a charter operator, but concentrated solely on the business of aircraft sales and service. But that did not take away the issues that still riddled IGGA in their attempts to increase aircraft sales. Harwood says, “It often takes four to five meetings stretched over a good number of weeks at a time to sell one aircraft, you have to travel; you can’t stay away from that and be in the business of selling aircraft.” But the question is, does business aviation hold potential in the Indian airline industry, especially given the fact that there already are behemoths operating charter fleets on an as-is-where-is basis?
At present, there are approximately 230 business aircraft operating in India (a figure that Ascend Database reports is only 113; see chart for details) vis-a-vis 1000-plus in China. Some analysts B&E talked to believe in the huge Indian market of private jet buyers, the count of which is estimated at 100,000 individuals (“Business aviation has very strong growth prospects in India. We have the 4th largest number of business jets on order in the world, and as a percentage of the current fleet, the order book is the largest. Given the strength of economic growth, demand for private charter is expected to grow strongly,” says S.Binit, Regional Director, CAPA to B&E). And some analysts don’t, who tell B&E that such prospective demand stands very less chance to cut into profitability!
It was not a typical first day at office for Nigel Harwood, the newly-appointed CEO and President of InterGlobe General Aviation (IGGA) – InterGlobe Enterprise’s business aviation arm. This Preston-born expatriate confesses to B&E that he was given the “conference room” as his office and a staff list that had “no other name but his own”, when he took the hot seat in June 2007. His task was clear – use the experience gained at Airbus, Kingfisher and Rolls Royce to the hilt and set a benchmark for business aviation in a country, which had seen many high-rises in the civil aviation space turn to rubble; the stigma – Rs.70 billion lost in 2009, as per CAPA.
But Harwood was hopeful. He sat down with a mug of coffee and a blank sheet and jotted down a list of tasks in the order of priority. “The first point was to find a secretary,” Hardwood jests. It took him and his newly recruited team four months to score their first hunt – a brand new Hawker 900XP, worth $15 million.
Three years hence, what started as an outfit for selling Hawker Beechcraft aircrafts in India, has grown into a full aviation portfolio, with long term agreements with Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, Dornier Seapne Company and most recently, Pacific Aerospace. Growth apparently stood a better chance in the industry Hawker aircraft operated in [John Siddharth, Aerospace Analyst at Frost & Sullivan tells B&E, while talking about IGGA’s business model, “Civil & Business Aviation cater to two different segments. However, from an Indian investor’s perspective, Business Aviation is definitely a better bet.”]
In a country, where being in the business of air travel can be difficult, IGGA has managed to miss the bullets. One reason clearly is that IGGA did not enter the industry as a charter operator, but concentrated solely on the business of aircraft sales and service. But that did not take away the issues that still riddled IGGA in their attempts to increase aircraft sales. Harwood says, “It often takes four to five meetings stretched over a good number of weeks at a time to sell one aircraft, you have to travel; you can’t stay away from that and be in the business of selling aircraft.” But the question is, does business aviation hold potential in the Indian airline industry, especially given the fact that there already are behemoths operating charter fleets on an as-is-where-is basis?
At present, there are approximately 230 business aircraft operating in India (a figure that Ascend Database reports is only 113; see chart for details) vis-a-vis 1000-plus in China. Some analysts B&E talked to believe in the huge Indian market of private jet buyers, the count of which is estimated at 100,000 individuals (“Business aviation has very strong growth prospects in India. We have the 4th largest number of business jets on order in the world, and as a percentage of the current fleet, the order book is the largest. Given the strength of economic growth, demand for private charter is expected to grow strongly,” says S.Binit, Regional Director, CAPA to B&E). And some analysts don’t, who tell B&E that such prospective demand stands very less chance to cut into profitability!
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
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