Mumbai:
From being a bonding tool for college students to becoming a social networking utility boasting of more than 500 million active users, Facebook has indeed come a long way. But, selling airplanes on the website? That's something that even Mark Zuckerberg could not have foreseen.
The Facebook Marketplace application (app), launched in 2009 as a marketplace for 'anything and everything', has also become a popular place to buy and sell aircraft in India. Recently, the app listed 12 Indian aircraft-including choppers-for sale and five aircraft deals have already taken place by a Kochi-based company K Air Charter.
Benjamin R, who handles charter sales for the company, confirmed this. "Out of the five online deals, two aircraft were from our own fleet and three were owned by different business families. We sell our aircraft through Jameslist (an online dealership), which posts the details of the aircraft on Facebook. It (Facebook) is emerging as a strong area for aircraft sales," said Benjamin. The aircraft sold by K Air include the Bombardier, Hawker and Bell series. "We have been associated with Jameslist for the last two years and the response has been really good," added Benjamin.
UK-based businessman Thomas Nerure, who owns Jetstock - a company that deals in pre-owned aircraft-also vouched for the app's efficacy. "We have many Indian clients and a series of aircraft come to us for sale. Recently, we sold a 604 Bombardier Challenger belonging to an Indore-based businessman. The response on FB has been good. Nearly five buyers contact us through the website every month."
Nerure revealed that Indian businessmen don't always look at the utility as a means to sell their aircraft, but a decent number of enquiries come for buying aircraft too.
Aviation expert Captain Akram Baig thinks India is a potentially huge market for online aircraft sales. "India has the potential to grow as a strong e-commerce market for aircraft. The technicalities in buying and selling notwithstanding, it will be interesting to watch the growth of this market in the country.
Rs 135 crore, is the approximate cost of a new Bombardier 605 aircraft