Vaccines, procured by pharma companies, get VIP treatment

Did you know that vaccines procured by pharma companies also get VIP treatment? Wondering how? Well, they are all flown in chartered flights to various pharma companies. With Andhra Pradesh being one of the major hubs of drug manufacturers, the state's pharma firms use nearly eight to 12 charter flight trips every year. “We have nearly 10-15 customers (meaning pharma firms) in Andhra Pradesh that is one of the biggest manufacturers of generic drugs in India,” said H.L. Rikhye, chief executive officer of Flywell Aviation Pvt. Ltd.

The demand for charter services from pharma companies depends on their research and development procedures. The transportation of vaccines is a delicate matter as the cold-chain must be preserved to keep these vaccines effective.

"If they have new innovations and want to test vaccines, we get orders for charter services," says Rikhye, adding cost-wise; these trips may be expensive because vaccines could be procured from any place in the world."

That apart, Visakhapatnam, which is a Naval base, sees a good number of chartered flight trips every year catering to defence services, he says. Each short-haul trip (in a chartered flight) can cost anywhere between Rs1.5 lakh to 3 lakh, depending on the time period. On average, yearly revenues of charter operators are anywhere between Rs 200 crore and upwards. Though there is no exact data on India's chartered flight operations market, Rikhye says that the total market exceeds Rs 1,000 crore.

India has 121 non-scheduled operators (charter operators) and 359 chartered aircrafts.

Meanwhile, charter flying operations are seeing an uptick in the backdrop of general elections, says experts. According to Rohit Kapur, president of the Business Aircraft Operators’ Association, "charter flying has seen an increase, especially for helicopters. All available helicopters are booked. This happens every five years."

However, given the limit on the poll expenditure, politicians might not opt for chartered flights because they might exceed the stipulated spending restriction set by the Election Commission of India.

Interestingly, charter service operators, sometimes, take a cut in pay in case of natural calamities. "If we are asked by the United Nations or any other global or domestic organisations to provide aircraft for relief, we do it on human grounds because safety and security are important," Rikhye explains.