The pre-wedding celebrations of Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, will see Jamnagar airport receiving over 2000 guests who will be landing in 150-odd aircraft in just five days. As one-third of these aircraft are private jets flying from foreign locations, authorities have set up special immigration facilities for foreign guests arriving for the high-profile wedding.
“Between February 28 and March 4, our airport at Jamnagar is expected to receive about 150 aircraft. Of these, 50 are flying in directly from foreign locations. During these five days, there will be more than 300 aircraft movements at the airport,” DK Singh, airport director at Jamnagar, told businessline. Approximately 2,000 guests are expected to start arriving from Wednesday for the pre-wedding event in these aircraft, including guests from Mumbai and Delhi.
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According to official sources, the pre-wedding ceremony of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant is expected to be held within the sprawling Reliance Township on March 1-3. Over 2,000-2,500 guests from across India and other parts of the globe are expected to attend the three-day event, sources added.
Slew of arrivals
The bulk of the aircraft coming to Jamnagar during this five-day period is from the United States; private jets carrying dignitaries are also coming for the wedding from Qatar, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Bhutan, Saudi Arabia, and Sweden. Jamnagar airport is expected to be busiest on March 1, when about 100 aircraft movements (the arrival and departure of 50 aircraft) are expected to be clocked in a single day. This is a multi-fold jump in aircraft movements for the Jamnagar airport, which, on average, handles only three scheduled and five non-scheduled aircraft daily.
‘With the permission of the Government of India, we have set up a Customs, Immigration, and Quarantine (CIQ) centre at the airport. This is meant to facilitate the international visitors landing directly at Jamnagar,” Singh added. Reliance Industries has also made special arrangements near the airport to receive the dignitaries coming for the pre-wedding event.
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However, as Jamnagar is also an important airbase belonging to the Indian Air Force (IAF), the authorities have not allotted parking space to any visiting aircraft. Sources said airports in Rajkot and Porbandar could be used to accommodate the visiting aircraft. Between April and January 2023-24, Jamnagar airport served more than 1.34 lakh passengers and saw 2,400 aircraft movements.
Though Reliance Industries has not officially shared the guest list for the pre-wedding in Jamnagar, company sources said the invitees include foreign dignitaries, politicians, corporate czars, Bollywood celebrities, and cricketers.