Page 48 - Banking Finance October 017

FEATURES

NOW, FLY FROM

BANGALORE AIRPORT TO

SOFTWARE HUB IN 15

MINUTES

B engaluru is set to launch a while the government would explore He added that Sao Paulo had more

helicopter taxi service from
choppers than the entire country.
setting up a heliport in Electronics City
that would allow passengers to check
its international airport to
According to the Rotor Wing Society of
Electronics City, helping
passengers save hours in commute and in from the software hub. Around India, the country has around 284
60,000 passengers fly from Bengaluru
helicopters in the civilian market, which
beat the city’s bumper to bumper every day and if 100 passengers use has not expanded in the last decade.
traffic. choppers to commute to the airport,
the service could be economically To address this, Sinha said the
The service, to begin in three months viable. government would kick off next week
with one helicopter by Thumby the second round of Udaan, the
Aviation, will eventually expand to Bengaluru, India’s tech hub with a country’s regional connectivity scheme,
connect Whitefield, the HAL airport, population of around 10 million, has by pushing the adoption of helicopters
and some of the 90 odd highrise over 6.93 million vehicles, or two to connect small towns and “support
buildings that have rooftop helipads, vehicles for every three people, affordable flying through helicopters”.
based on the demand from people. according to the state transport
department. The Centre’s open sky policy
A 55 km road journey from the airport encourages using choppers in cities to
to Electronics City, home to several The government expects Bengaluru’s fly below 5,000 feet without a
technology firms such as Infosys, Wipro heli-taxi service to be a model for other flightplan.
and HP, takes over two hours by cab, cities in India, to promote the use of
costing around Rs. 2,500, while the choppers to commute over high traffic Flightplan is a document that needs to
chopper journey would reduce it to 15 areas, to reach airports. be submitted to the local airport
minutes. Officials from Bangalore authority, indicating the route of an
International Airport (BIAL), the “We hope that Bengaluru will lead the aircraft being planned to fly.
airport operator, and Karnataka way for other cities to adopt such
Industries Minister R V Deshpande services,” said Union Minister of State Sinha said he expected both SpiceJet
expect the commute costs on a for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha on Friday. and IndiGo to participate in the second
chopper for an individual would match “In São Paulo, Brazil, a city similar in round of Udaan, based on the orders
air conditioned cab rides. size to Bengaluru, there are 300 they have placed for smaller aircraft
helicopters operating as heli-taxis. such as ATR and Bombardier, to tap the
BIAL would partner other chopper Travel will be seamless and there will growing opportunity to connect smaller
operators, based on initial success, be no need to fight traffic.” routes. (Source : Business Standard)

BANKING FINANCE | OCTOBER | 2017 | 47

Sashi Publications Pvt Ltd Call 8443808873/ 8232083010