(This story originally appeared in on Apr 22, 2014)

AHMEDABAD: Ever since he kick-started his campaign, Narendra Modi has been criss-crossing the country. But, BJP's PM candidate has rarely felt homesick, thanks to a fleet of three aircraft — one jet and two choppers — which bring him home every night.Modi has addressed over 150 rallies across the country, clocking 2.4 lakh km, or an average of about 1,100km a day. He has logged in the most flying hours, followed by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi , industry experts said.Almost every day, Modi takes off from Ahmedabad airport in an EMB-135BJ, an Embraer aircraft, for his rallies. The jet is owned by Karnavati Aviation, a group company of the Adani Group . "We record two movements of Modi's aircraft daily. No matter where he goes to address rallies, he always comes back home," said an air traffic control official.Recently, Modi's aircraft was denied permission to fly by DGCA in Delhi for over two hours, following which he lashed out at the central government for stalling his movement. Ever since, Modi has increased the use of choppers to cover smaller distances. "Mostly, politicians use chopper to reach places where bigger aircraft can't reach," said an ATC official.Over the past few days, Modi flew in an Augusta AW-139 chopper, owned by the DLF Group , for his rallies in north India, especially in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.According to ATC officials, Modi has also flown in a Bell 412 chopper owned by a private charter service. According to experts, the cost of flying in a single-engine chopper is around Rs 70,000 to Rs 75000 per hour while in the case of a twin-engine chopper, the cost goes up to Rs 1 to 1.2 lakh per hour. For jets, the flying cost per hour comes to Rs 3 lakh.Around 130 air charter service operators across the country are profiting from the extensive use of helicopters and business jets by parties and politicians. Industry sources said they're spending Rs 350-400 crore on chartered planes for campaigns.The secretary of Business Aircraft Operator's Association RK Bali said the sector was witnessing negative growth of 2 per cent in the past two years but there had been a spurt in business after campaigning started. "This is the only boom time in the air charter services industry," he said.Capt GR Gopinath, pioneer of low-cost aviation in India, said elections were a good time for the air charter industry. "It is more visible because of the glamour, sound and fury that surround a chopper or a business jet," he said.