BUSINESS NEWS
India’s rich are not the only ones fleeing the Covid crisis on private jets, says CEO
PUBLISHED THU, MAY 6 20218:33 PM EDT
- Indian tycoons and Bollywood stars are not alone in fleeing the country’s escalating coronavirus crisis, says the CEO of private jet charter company JetSetGo.
- Upper-middle class families are pooling their resources to escape to Maldives and Dubai, Kanika Tekriwal told CNBC.
- JetSetGo has seen a 900% surge in bookings in recent weeks — with some 70% to 80% coming from the upper middle class, instead of their regular ultra high net worth customers.
India’s wealthy are not alone in fleeing the Covid crisis, says private jet CEO
Tycoons and Bollywood stars may be among the most high profile residents fleeing India’s shores on private jets as the
coronavirus crisis escalates— but they are by no means the only ones, according to private jet charter company JetSetGo.
The situation in India has become so dire that even upper-middle class families are pooling their resources to make an escape, its co-founder and CEO Kanika Tekriwal told CNBC’s “
Street Signs Asia.”
The South Asian country, battling a devastating surge in the virus,
recorded 412,262 new cases on Thursday, taking its total caseload to more than 28 million.
“To say that only wealthy Indians are leaving India on private jets would be wrong,” Tekriwal said Thursday from Maldives.
“In the last 10 days, what we have really seen is anyone who can put together the resources and the means to pool in money for a private jet, or to pool in money just to get out of the country, getting out.”
They’re just people who are putting together money to get out of the country. I think it’s them who fear Covid the most.
Tekriwal said JetSetGo has seen a 900% surge in bookings in recent weeks — with some 70% to 80% coming from the upper middle class, instead of their regular ultra high net worth customers. The majority of them are fleeing to Maldives, which currently offers quarantine at a secluded resort for passengers arriving from India, or Dubai, which allows entry from business purposes.
“They’re just people who are putting together money to get out of the country. I think it’s them who fear Covid the most because they’re not the ultra-rich or the most accessible to medical care,” she said.
JetSetGo has not increased its rates in response to the surging demand, Tekriwal said adding: “That would be opportunistic and wrong.”
But at $18,000 to $20,000 for an eight-seater jet to Maldives, or $31,000 for a six-seater jet to Dubai,
