Newstrack

Helicopter travel: A concept of necessity

Anupama Sushil - New Delhi

Now that the state of the helicopter industry in the country is being addressed, important initiatives are being taken by all the parties involved - the developers, government and the corporate sector. Addressing the needs of even faster and uninterrupted travel, helicopters are now being looked upon as the next big thing.

Commenting on this, Brig (Retd) Madhu Mahbubani, entrepreneur, Aviacon, an aviation consultant company said, "Till few years back only the government and government-owned agencies like Pawan Hans were the main helicopter operators in India. With GDP growing at 9 per cent and the increasing aspirations of corporate has made helicopter travel a necessity. Furthermore, in order to cut down the time and distance to fulfil these requirements, there is a strong need to have privately-owned heliports or elevated heliports and airports."

Explaining the reasons behind such a trend, Mahbubani believes that the ever increasing distances between airports and business centres/districts of urban India, coupled with the high density and slow paced traffic makes helicopter transport a concept of necessity.

"India's immense economic growth and the government's open sky policy have failed to capture the versatility of the helicopter as a machine of corporate management," he asserted.

Aviacon has already established the first lighted elevated heliport in Mumbai for the Tata Industries in south Mumbai and also has a strong base among other clients like BVK, Parsvnath and Rajasthan Government.