The Hindu Business Line : AAI working on norms for heliports

With growing demands from the corporate sector, political parties and high net worth individuals for the use of helicopters, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) plans to come out with separate procedures to improve their operations.

“We are giving top priority to put in place these procedures so that helicopters can easily operate in metros and other destinations where there is demand,” said Mr K. Ramalingam, Chairman, AAI.

Separate infrastructure

Already there is increased activity at the Juhu Airport for helicopters. A separate parking bay for helicopters in the metro airports could be an immediate possibility. Similarly, Pawan Hans, the leading company has come with big plans.

There is a need for developing heliports and separate infrastructure, he said in response to queries at an International Conference on Indian Aviation: Scaling New Heights, organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Union Civil Aviation Ministry here.

Year of the helicopter

Interestingly, 2008 has been declared as the year of the helicopter, but operators were finding it difficult to operate, especially with the existing airport, pointed out a couple of industry participants at the seminar.

Mr Kiran Kumar Grandhi, Managing Director, GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL), said, “We are working with the AAI and Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA) to facilitate helicopter movement, especially in metros, where the demand has steadily gone up as well as to places like Rajahmundry where several oil companies are operating”.

Growing demand

The Chairman and Managing Director of Pawan Hans, Mr R.K. Tyagi, in his presentation said heliports were expected to come up soon in Mumbai and New Delhi. The company operates 35 choppers of the nearly 200 flying around in the country.

Indicating the growing demand for helicopters, Bell Helicopter Company, US, formally handed over its 100th helicopter and 17th in the year 2008 to an Indian customer at the ongoing India Aviation 2008 meet.

The Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel, who spoke on the occasion on Thursday pointed out that in the next five years nearly 1,000 helicopters could be inducted.

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