India’s Baron Aviation has launched a jet card program to encourage the country’s growing ranks of wealthy individuals to fly in a fleet of aircraft operated by an alliance of selected operators. The company’s fleet of eight aircraft consists of two Challenger 604s, a Global Express, a Falcon 2000, a Hawker 750 and three helicopters (an Airbus AS355N TwinStar and a Bell 412 and 407).

Baron has committed to buying blocks of flight time from several Indian charter operators, including Raymonds Aviation, which owns a Challenger 604 and two of the helicopters. It is seeing demand from new private aviation consumers, including wealthy women wanting to fly to Dubai on shopping trips. The company, which is part of the Baron Luxury & Lifestyle group, says that it is contracting for between 70 and 100 percent of the operators’ available fleet hours and on this basis says it is able to set the standards of service to be provided to its clients.

The group offers three levels of Baron Eagle membership, with members establishing a pre-paid deposit that is used to cover the cost of flights. The membership tiers do not cover specific numbers of flight hours, but do give guaranteed availability–based on 48 hours’ notice for domestic flights and 76 hours for international trips–and the right for more than one person to use each membership.

At the Platinum level, members pay $330,000 for up to four cards that can be transferred among individuals and with refunds for any amounts not spent on flights. This level of commitment also allows members to book flights to and from anywhere in the world.

A Gold card costs $80,000 and allows bookings for domestic or international flights from India. The Silver card costs $40,000 and is for domestic flights only.

Customers receive a full breakdown of their charges and pay only for actual flight time. According to Baron CEO and chairman Rajeev Wadhwa, demand for international flights by Indian private jet travelers has increased by 16 percent since 2011. He feels that India’s rising ranks of billionaires view a jet card program as a more viable alternative to full aircraft ownership.

After launching the program last December, Baron Eagle sold out the initial membership quota within three months. According to the company there is now a waiting list of 49 prospective members and it intends to reopen the program next month.