NEW DELHI: The keenest contest of 2014 is up in the air. As poll season revs up, rival parties vie to cover maximum ground in minimum time and the hottest item in demand is a chopper. Price? No problem.Every time Narendra Modi or Rahul Gandhi take a chopper to an election rally, they draw up an hourly tab of up to Rs 3 lakh per helicopter. When they jet off from one city to another, the cost may be as high as Rs 5 lakh by the hour. That’s the going rate for chartered aircraft, say industry sources.Facing soaring demand, charter firms’ rates have taken flight. The companies are seeking minimum 45-day contracts of three to four hours’ daily flying to hire out their planes to parties. At current rates, industry insiders estimate the big two — BJP and Congress — could spend anywhere from Rs 70 crore to Rs 90 crore each on giving wing to their poll prospects.Regional biggies are also flying high: some smaller parties could end up spending Rs 15 crore to Rs 30 crore, depending on the size of their state and the reach of their leader’s ambitions. Aviation firms count UP’s Mayawati and Mulayam Singh, and Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa as some of their big clients. Newbie Aam Aadmi Party has refrained from hiring planes.Charter firms say they hike rates in times of peak demand, such as elections, but the spike’s been higher this time because of chopper shortage. “Average hourly rates for choppers range from Rs 60,000 for a single-engine Bell 407 to Rs 2.5 lakh for the twin-engine, executive Bell 412. But the number of choppers available for hire has gone down as the DGCA has made certain things like flight data recorders and height measuring systems mandatory for safety reasons. Not all choppers in India have the equipment. So while demand is high, supply is hit,” explains Sandeep Bhatt, CEO of charter company Ligare Voyages.Aircraft are more expensive. Even the smallest turboprop, such as a five-seater Kingair C-90, commands a price of Rs 55,000 an hour. The uberluxury Falcon 7000 and Challenger 605 — used by Modi, Sonia and Rahul — can cost up to Rs 5 lakh an hour. And these are just starting rates; the real price is determined by how early the booking’s done and the party’s payment track record. Last-minute bookings are costlier.But high costs are hardly a deterrent for high-fl ying leaders. Captain Gopinath, head of Deccan Charters, says it’s not hard to do the math on how much parties spend on ferrying leaders. “Every party is hiring, with Congress and BJP the biggest spenders. Hiring a jet or chopper for 45 days will cost upto Rs 2-5 crore. Big parties hire about 20 to 30 machines. India has about 120 jets and 270-280 choppers for hire. Still, expense on flying is not even a fraction of poll spend.”Despite its size, the business of hiring out planes remains a largely unorganized affair. Top netas travel in jets owned by corporate houses that supposedly ‘rent’ them out to parties. Many politicians, such as Navin Jindal and Kamal Nath, own aviation companies. Their planes are used by their leaders.“There are very few serious charter players in the country. At most, we have four to five. This, despite the fact that we are witnessing the largest ever poll-time demand for aircraft,” says Imperial Air chief Manav Singh, a pioneer in the charter business.Choppers remain the fi rm favourite: they can land right next to campaign venues. Luxury jets for top netas and turboprops for second-rung leaders are also in demand. Many fi rst-time candidates are also hiring planes, says Ligare’s Bhatt.It’s getting quite crowded up there.