Indian GEMS - Gross Excess of MillionaireS

In a country where a few hundred million still suffer from acute poverty...

India Pakistan semi final: Traffic jam over Mohali as honchos fly in on pvt jets - The Economic Times: "ndia Inc's scramble to fly to Chandigarh in their fancy jets and be counted on the tarmac of the otherwise sleepy airport in Chandigarh will make it as busy as the Delhi or Mumbai airports on Wednesday. At last count, 96 aircraft would be flying in India's who's who for the high-voltage semis. Of these, just 20 would be commercial aircraft (scheduled flights plus special flights for the semifinal) and the remaining 76 VVIP IAF flights, private jets and charters!
Only the aircraft carrying Sonia Gandhi , her family and entourage and the prime ministers of India and Pakistan will land and take off in a jiffy. The rest, which includes likes of Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel , Jyotiraditya Scindia , the Ambani brothers, the Mittals, the Hindujas, and Bollywood glitterati, might come in Hawkers and Bombardiers but will have to wait for landing at the crowded airport and takeoff.

Those who have obtained permission to fly in their planes are the lucky ones, for, the airport has conveyed that it's up to its gills and can't take any more planes. Hence, even those with private aircraft are now seeking to hitch a flight with their friends.

All incoming flights will land between 6am and 1pm and after the match is over, these charters would take off after 11.30pm onward. The last one could get the clearance to fly as late as 1-1.30 pm.

The Air Force, which controls the aiport, has permitted private jets to operate at night as a one-off exception. Air Officer Commanding Air Commodore Rajeev Sachdeva said landing of charters was permitted but only VVIP planes of PM Manmohan Singh and his counterpart Yousaf Raza Gilani will be parked at the airport. The rest would have to park at Amritsar, Dehradun and even go back to New Delhi.

To deal with the rush, the Airports Authority of India has sent air traffic controllers and navigation experts to help IAF officers coordinate with nearby airports.

Given the squeeze, liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who owns Kingfisher , will fly in Sharad Pawar on his ultra luxurious Airbus A-319 and bring up to 23 other biggies.

Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Sunil Shetty will fly in Anil Ambani's jet that will have wife Tina Munim and kids. Raymond's Gautam Singhania, industrialist Anil Aggarwal and Religare group heads will travel in their fancy planes."