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Vinod Singel’s Quarter-Century in Building: The Powerhouse in Aviation Consulting Twenty-five years ago, when business aviation in India was a niche domain for a select few, Vinod Singel envisioned the need for a dedicated aviation consultancy—a then-unheard-of concept. Today, he is the driving force behind the acquisition, induction, and sale of over 68 aircraft. In this exclusive interview with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor of Aviation World, Mr. Singel, the visionary Managing Director of AeroSource International Pvt. Ltd., reflects on his remarkable journey, his company’s expansive market reach, and the mantras behind his enduring success. Read on for the excerpts. Q: Congratulation to you on the Silver Jubilee of AeroSource. How do you feel achieving this milestone? A: Thank you. Standing here, thinking about the last twenty-five years, it’s an incredible feeling. I remember when we started, the idea of aviation consulting was almost unheard of. Back then, selling just one plane was a huge deal. To see what AeroSource has grown into today, and the role we’ve played in shaping this industry… that’s what I’m most proud of. This anniversary is a celebration of how far we’ve soared, together. Q: You are one of the seasoned aviation professionals in the business aviation in India? We would like to know a bit about your journey? A: My journey didn’t start with a business plan, but with an overnight decision to just go out and serve customers. A few of my clients encouraged me to start on my own. Once I actually took the plunge, the reality of building a business from scratch set in. First few months were humbling, to say the least. When that first real project came through, it provided the essential capital to operate and, more importantly, validated the business model, giving me the assurance to move forward with full commitment. Q: What are the verticals that AeroSource deals into? Also, do you have global presence as well? A: At heart, we are aviation consultants. Our reputation was built on our deep expertise in buying and selling aircraft, it’s the core of what we do, and it’s where we consistently deliver the greatest value to our clients. We quickly realised that to do that job properly, we couldn’t just be brokers on the sidelines, we decided to become true consultants, hand-holding clients through the entire acquisition including the regulatory permissions and compliances. In fact, we were so committed to this that we opened a liaison office in Delhi specifically to navigate those statutory bodies linked with the aircraft import process. It was the best decision we made. This foundation naturally led to our second business line – Operations & Management. We recognized that for many of our clients, besides owning the asset they desired a seamless, hassle-free day-to-day Operations, maintenance, crew management etc. We, therefore, evolved to offer comprehensive asset management services, providing the ultimate peace of mind by managing day-to-day operational complexities. We also established key partnerships with leading manufacturers like Bombardier and Piaggio. This allows us to offer a select range of aircraft, with local presence. While our roots are firmly in India, our reach is global, with a network of partners and clients that makes AeroSource Group, an international player. Q: What’s the first deal that you always cherish about? A: If I were to point to one deal that defined our early journey, it would be our first comprehensive assignment by the prestigious TVS Group. When I look back on that journey, right from identifying the aircraft, to negotiations and more interestingly navigating DGCA, finance and customs processes, it was the ultimate ordeal. Handling that entire project as a single-man army, was a trial by fire. It taught us more than any business plan ever could. By closing that deal, successfully, we knew our model wasn’t just a theory; it actually worked. Thinking back on it still gives me a real sense of pride. Q: Till date, how many aircraft acquisitions being done under your leadership? Also, any particular type of acquisition that is your favourite one? A: To date, we’ve successfully managed the acquisition, induction and sale of 68 aircraft. A major shift occurred around 2006, as we saw India’s corporate ambitions take flight, translating into a rising demand for mid to long-range business jets that could connect the country to the world. While we deeply respect the engineering of all the brands we work with, our primary commitment isn’t to a manufacturer—it’s the process. Our mission is a seamless induction, delivering an asset to our clients that is fully compliant to Indian and foreign regulations. This focus is our proudest achievement of a flawless record where not even one aircraft that we managed has ever been grounded upon arrival in India by DGCA, Customs, or any other regulatory body. For our clients, that’s more than a statistic; it’s the guarantee of a smooth and uninterrupted operation. Q: What are the factors that you believe has played a key role in your success? A: We believe our success comes from a core decision we made early on: to build a fully integrated, in-house team. While many in our field out source key functions, we’ve invested in bringing every critical step from technical inspection to regulatory compliance under one roof. This means there are no third-party gaps or excuses. When our clients engage us, they get a single, dedicated team accountable for the entire project. It’s a significant investment, but this is the non-negotiable cost of control. It ensures that our clients receive our undiluted expertise, our direct oversight, and our absolute accountability from start to finish. Q: What has been the most challenging phase of your professional life that you would like to share with the industry? Also, how you overcome that? A: You know, one of the biggest professional challenges we ever faced was also one of the best things that happened to us. It was when the DGCA rolled out the eGCA platform, moving everything from paper to digital. It

JEKTA, the manufacturer of the zero-emissions Passenger Hydro Aircraft – Zero Emissions 100 (PHA-ZE 100) amphibious aircraft, has already received more than $1.35 bn of forward commitments from operators for LoI signed for 139 aircraft in the Middle East, India, and Asia, with Gayo Aviation, MEHAIR (in India), Solyu, Seaplane Asia, among others demonstrating commitment. Recently, at the Dubai Airshow, George Alafinov, CEO and Co-Founder of JEKTA in an exclusive interview with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World, shared insight on all aspects of the aircraft and his vision towards launching a new era of affordable, sustainable regional air mobility, where they see themselves as the global leader in the amphibious aircraft sector. Excerpts… Q: What does JEKTA do and could you share more details about the products? A: JEKTA is based in Switzerland and is specialised in developing and building amphibious aircraft. When we’re talking about amphibious aircraft, we are not talking about an aircraft with floats, but we specifically mean a flying boat design that can operate as easily from prepared or unprepared runways and water without any requirement for additional hardware like floaters or anything else. Flying boats have superior technical capabilities compared to float planes because they’re originally designed for what nature has given us – water and land. When 80 per cent of the world is covered by water, that means that 80 per cent of the world is our potential runway. We can create a regional transportation network with minimal investment into airports, with no time needed to build an airport and reduced ecological impact. Since building an airport irreversibly impacts on nature, we’re using nature’s gift, which is water. Today, most of the population of the world lives near water, whether it’s lakes, rivers, the sea, or the ocean, and this opens up an opportunity for the creation of transportation for these communities by using that water where they live. We believe that using amphibian aviation is sustainable, easy, and low cost. With minimal barriers of entry it creates the possibility of providing services to communities, within record time and with reduced financial investment. Q: What factors drive you foresee for the potential for sea plane operations? A: We’re talking about half a billion people living on thousands of islands where there is not only a desire to have amphibian aviation but an absolute need of amphibian aviation. As in the case of India, we see huge development and growth in the middle class. As the growth continues, the middle class wants to travel more and even sometimes simply to travel to international airports to fly to their relatives in other parts of India or abroad, or to visit island nations like the Maldives, or to visit global tourist attractions. Today it’s very challenging for Indian travelers, and it’s even more challenging for island nations, for example, the Indonesians, because they have to invariably take a boat to access other locations. Amphibious aviation provides a tool for quick, comfortable, sustainable, and affordable transportation to the international hubs. Q: How do you see the market for JEKTA across the world and especially India? A: Currently, we have Letter of Intent (LoI) for 109 aircraft, of which 50 are in India. India is going to be one of the biggest markets in the world for amphibious aviation, and the reason for that is not only the geographical and topographical conditions of India, but also the absolute willingness of the government of India to open rivers and lakes. As you might know about five or six years ago the Govt. of India had already integrated regulations for the opening of lakes and rivers of India for aviation. They see it as an incredible opportunity to develop transportation without huge investment in regional airports that would inadvertently destroy India’s nature. We commend this decision by the Indian government, and we respect it very much because it aligns with our global vision for the development of amphibian aviation. We have an Indian customer who has signed an LoI for 50 aircraft, and we believe the Indian market is so large that it requires up to 400 aircraft to support intra-region and inter-region aviation. Q:How about other markets where you see the potential? A: The other very interesting market for us is the Middle East which comprises of countries like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. The Middle East has an extensive coastline, yet it doesn’t incorporate regional ground transportation. Railroads and highways connecting key destinations are quite limited. So, the opportunity mirrors that of India. We see the option of developing a transportation network using existing infrastructure such as international airports in combination with water. It is an opportunity that the Middle East cannot pass up. Our discussions with local stakeholders demonstrate that they understand amphibious aviation presents a huge opportunity for the provision of new affordable, sustainable air transport services through operators and through the state, for its local communities. Probably the biggest potential market for regional operations for us is in Southeast Asia, which includes Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia. Q: In regard to India, what is the tentative timeline for the delivery of the aircraft? A: Our tentative schedule to enter the market is 2031. The usual cycle for development of aircraft of such a class is about 10 years, including certification. Q: You must be aware that in India a few seaplane operations were planned but could not take off. How do you prepare yourself to address such situations? A: Yes, I am well aware of that. They could not make it due to various reasons, out of which two are important to put here: The first main reason is the limited availability of aircraft that can successfully support seaplane operations on the Indian shores. The second reason relates to the extremely expensive maintenance and high fuel consumption, which make flight operations unviable. JEKTA has designed its aircraft to have vastly superior technical capabilities through its flying boat design and to