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More than 80 unused helipads across Tamil Nadu will soon be put to use with helicopter services planned by the State government. An institution mechanism (Tamil Nadu Regional Aerial Connectivity through Helicopters — TN REACH) will be formulated to use helicopters for travel between cities and towns.
The proposed initiative announced in the State Industry Policy announced Thursday is expected to bring about a significant improvement in the intra-state transportation network, particularly in urban areas, where the demand for air travel is high, said sources.
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The proposed mechanism would leverage the National Civil Aviation Policy and the Centre’s Helicopter Policy. The mechanism would build upon Heli Disha, an administrative guidance manual for helicopter operations, and Heli Sewa, a portal for providing online landing clearance for helicopter operations.
Tamil Nadu Industrial Corporation (Tidco) will be the nodal agency to implement the plan. It will work out an institutional mechanism involving government agencies, helipad and helicopter operators.
Boost to regional economy
The helicopter connectivity within Tamil Nadu is expected to provide improved accessibility, increased economic growth, and job creation, and also enhance the overall transportation network.
This will not only help the common man fly at affordable prices but will also boost the regional economy. This would also provide a fillip to the aerospace industry, monetise the existing unused helipads and provide another mode of reliable and fast transportation in the State.
The helicopter service will help to alleviate traffic congestion and reduce travel time between cities and towns. It will enable increased connectivity for tourism, and for medical emergencies, which would in turn generate revenue for the State, sources said in Tidco.
Other sectors which would benefit from this scheme include maintenance of law and order, medical tourism and harvested organ transportation, religious tourism, business travel and aero sports and joyrides.
Even though the State has extensive rail/road connectivity, the air connectivity is currently only to five cities — Chennai, Coimbatore, Trichy, Madurai and Thoothukudi.
Earlier aviation plans
This March, the government’s ambitious project to build an airport at the fast-growing industrial hub of Hosur stumbled on the prevailing policy of not allowing new airports within a 150km radius of an existing airport. Citing the distance, the Centre deleted Hosur from the UDAN document for future rounds of bidding. It did not award the Chennai-Hosur-Chennai route under the Regional Connectivity Scheme — Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) route.
In August last year, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin announced an investment of ₹20,000 crore to develop a greenfield airport at Parandur, 60 km from Chennai airport.
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