This week the BBC featured an article on business jets and the image associated with them. There were some interesting comments from those in the industry.

It is an industry that is perceived as exclusive and opulent, but actually the luxury is a by-product, not the goal.

The industry has been misjudged said Steve Varsano, of The Jet Business, a private jet and helicopter broker in London. “People have the wrong idea about business aviation,” he says. “It’s a business tool.”

Inside The Jet Business showroom a full-sized Airbus ACJ cabin has been reconstructed to showcase large, soft leather seats and fridges filled with champagne.

“It is luxurious,” he acknowledges. “But it’s not really about luxury.  When you spend $20m, or $30, or $50m on a private jet, the cost of the luxury aspect makes up perhaps 1-2% of the total price, so why not make it comfortable?”

The article suggests that difficulties obtaining finance for corporate jets one of the reasons why the market has struggled, with bankers being unwilling to finance private jets.

Eddie Pieniazek, global head of consultancy, Ascend commented  “There’s plenty of potential for the market going forward. Aircraft are still being delivered, Europe’s still busy, and we’re expecting to see roughly as many aircraft delivered this year as last year.”

Brian Humphries, president and chief executive of the European Business Aviation Association observes “We’ve had a huge increase in the European fleet in the last decade,” he says, pointing to how there were only about 2,000 turbine powered aircraft in Europe in the 1990s, compared with about 4,000 today.

Within the business, some operators of business aircraft are struggling in a market where margins are tight, Mr Humphries acknowledges.

This growth in demand for high-end private jets and helicopters confirms the continuing growth in the spending power of the famous and the powerful.

The fast track proposal to allow foreign airlines to invest in domestic airlines by the Government ended its Parliament session on May 22. In January 2012 that the Ministry for Civil Aviation announced a “broad consensus” in the Government on allowing foreign airlines to acquire an up to 49 per cent stake in domestic airlines. However, the proposal is yet to be approved by the Government.

When the sector was first opened in the early 1990s, the Government allowed foreign airlines to invest in domestic airlines.

It is rumoured that a number of domestic airlines have informally approached the Ministry of Civil Aviation, seeking that the proposal be pushed through at the earliest.

Besides, a number of global private equity funds that traditionally have a stake in several leading international airlines have also been making discreet inquiries from the Ministry on the issue. Official sources said that foreign investment in Indian carriers is being given a thrust right now because most domestic airlines are bleeding and banks in India are reluctant to fund most of them. So, there are only a few options left to keep them afloat. Even as the Government starts the process of implementing a change in policy, there has been a steady stream of chief executive officers and owners of global airlines visiting the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Each proposal by a foreign airline will have to be cleared by the inter-ministerial Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). With the Ministry of Home being a part of FIPB, any proposal considered against India’s security interests will be blocked, officials said.