Gujarat’s coastal city of Jamnagar receives three flights on a typical day. Come March 1, the number shot up 40 times as business tsars, tech magnets, and celebrities descended for the pre-wedding celebrations of Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani.
As per director DK Singh, a total of 430 domestic and 110 international flight movements happened at Jamnagar airport between February 26 and March 4. Commercial flight monitoring data collected and analysed by India Today’s Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) team shows the dual-use airport processed at least 341 non-scheduled flights between February 27 and March 4 mid-day.
During the monitored period, the highest number of arrivals and departures of private business jets and chartered large aircraft was recorded (117) on March 1, according to Flightradar24. It was followed by 81 such flights on March 3, 51 on March 2, and 38 on February 29. A majority of the 341 flights were private business jets.
At least 38 flights transported international guests between Jamnagar and different destinations in France, the UK, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Italy, Oman, and Saudi Arabia. Among international destinations, four flights arrived in Jamnagar from Paris, three each from Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and two each from London and Milan.
Among the private jets spotted in Jamnagar are different variants of Bombardier Challenger, Bombardier Global, Bombardier Global Express, Dassault Falcon, Embraer Legacy, Embraer ERJ, Embraer Phenom, Gulfstream, Cessna 560XL, and Hawker 800XP.
HEAVY RUSH
The Jamnagar domestic airport, which was granted international status for 10 days ending March 5, appeared struggling to handle the huge rush of passengers. Many private and chartered aircraft had to hover in the skies near Jamnagar for more than 30 minutes before getting a nod for landing. Due to very limited parking space at Jamnagar, jets were sent to nearby airports in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Rajkot etc.
At least five jets associated with Reliance Industries were deployed to ferry guests from Mumbai and other parts of India to Jamnagar, the home city of the Ambani family. The jets made 67 shorties during the monitored period.
In addition, narrow-body passenger aircraft like Boeing 737-75C, Embraer E175, and Airbus A320 appeared to have been hired from AIX Connect (formerly Air Asia), Star Air, and SpiceXpress airlines for transporting guests between Jamnagar and Mumbai and Delhi. The seating capacity of these aircraft ranges from 78 to 132.
Non-scheduled passenger aircraft made as many as 38 international flights. An Airbus A319-115 jet made five flights between Jamnagar and Paris & Milan, tracking data shows.
As many as 119 of the monitored flights did not reveal their flight information like their call sign, origin, and destination apparently due to the high-profile status of their passengers.
Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, former US president Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump, and music sensation Rihanna were among international personalities who landed in the city in private jets.
