Zydus Cadila buys private jet Challenger 604

AHMEDABAD: Ahmedabad-based drug maker Zydus Cadila has acquired a business jet, Challenger 604, thus becoming the third group in the state to own its own plane. Zydus did not reply to an email query, but sources in Ahmedabad Airport Authority confirmed the buy.

One person in the know of the development too said, Zydus chairman Pankaj Patel bought the jet for reaching out to distant facilities in Himachal Pradesh and SIkkim.
In 2009, Gautam Adani, promoter of Ahmedabad-based Adani Group, a Rs 30,000 crore conglomerate, bought Canadian ‘Challenger 605’ aircraft,. Adani also owns a Hawker and A-B-200 Beechcraft.

Before, Adani, it was Vadodara-based Sandesara Group that purchased its first private jet - Gulfstream G200 for Rs 120 crore for long range travel.

Zydus acquisition , Challenger 604, is from the family of business jets designed by Bill Lear and first produced by Canadair.

Challenger 604 is long-range, high speed, sophistication, comfort as well as style. It has seat capacity of eight to nineteen passengers and can fly 3,850 miles at .74 Mach speed.

Zydus Cadila’s fourth quarter consolidated net profit dipped by 4.5%, but total income rose by 16.34%.

The group's listed entity Cadila Healthcare will declare the first quarter (Q1) for the financial year 2012-13 in the first week of August.