While the City is abuzz with excitement, albeit a little sceptical about the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), which is slated for take-off this month end, there is one aspect that is slowly gaining momentum in the real estate industry — helipad.

It is a small patch of land with immense utility. The word helipad is a grammatical contraction meaning helicopter landing pad, an operations area for helicopters. Though helicopters can usually land anywhere flat, a fabricated helipad provides a clearly marked hard surface away from obstacles where a helicopter can land (and take off). Helipads are usually constructed out of concrete and are marked with a circle and/or a letter ‘H’, so as to be visible from the air. There is also the low-cost option of a grass helipad, that needs comparatively less investment. The current trend in Bangalore seems to be rooftop or elevated helipads. Real estate companies are already wooing potential clientele with the option of helicopter services to ensure fast passage to the new airport.

Not so simple

But not everyone can just build a helipad or declare his lawn or rooftop as a helipad/heliport. Various considerations like the touchdown and lift-off areas (TLOF), slope, surface type, bearing strength, final approach and takeoff area (FATO), etc, have to be considered. Though not common in India, a heliport is a small airport suitable only for use by helicopters.  Guidelines for heliport planning, physical characteristics, infrastructure, markings and safety services for construction of roof-top helipads have been issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Only institutions meeting the guidelines are permitted to operate helicopter services from roof-tops. Usually a helipad does not have fuel and service facilities for aircraft, as does a heliport, and does not maintain a full-time air traffic controller. 

Deccan decides

Deccan Aviation recently announced its plans to have four helipads across the City to ferry passengers, and is presently content with grass helipads that would not need too much maintainance. Col Jayanth Poovaiah, Director, Deccan Aviation, said the company would begin helicopter shuttle services from Bangalore city to the upcoming international airport at Devanahalli after its inauguration.

The shuttle service will operate from four prime locations, ie, BIAL airport itself, HAL Airport (for limited purposes), Bangalore Palace ground and Electronic City. While infrastructure like check-in counters, security, etc, is already in place in three of them, talks are on with the administration for a grass helipad at Bangalore Palace Ground, said Col Poovaiah. The company would have tie-ups with the companies who own helipads. Logistical requirements would then be ticketing counter, security, lounge and car park, he added.

Deccan Aviation will be starting its service initially with a Jet Ranger helicopter that seats four passengers, with around 2/3 shuttles in the morning and afternoon, respectively. The company is in talks with hotels like The Oberoi, Windsor Manor, Leela Palace and Royal Orchid, to cater primarily to the business travellers or executives who generally come to the City for only a few hours. With the shuttle tickets priced approximately at Rs 4,500 (BIAL to the other 3 helipads in the City and vice versa) and Rs 5,500 from Electronic City, Col Poovaiah said they had taken up the venture because of the requirement for the same. 

Explaining what a helipad entailed, Pravin D V, architect, Arcadia Architects, said a grass helipad was primarily 80m/50 m. Having designed the helipad of Deccan Aviation in Jakkur, he said the grass landing was 6 metres in diameter depending on the size of the helicopter. Surrounding the grass was cobbled stone. A clear flight cone was mandatory, he added. A concrete helipad on top of a building, contrarily needs to be designed in such a way that the impact of the load was transferred to the base of the building, explained Pravin. There should also be a safety net of around 4 metres around the elevated helipad.

Company speak

The future of helicopter services along with functional helipads definitely has a bright future in the real estate industry, said V Shashikant, CEO, UB Global. “Particularly in urban areas with congested traffic,” he emphasised. “The helipad at UB City will be fully ready in the next few weeks, and would definitely be used for the shuttle service to the new airport.”

The Brigade Group is going ahead with an elevated helipad in its new 30-storied Northstar building of the Brigade Gateway project in Malleswaram, according to Ms Indira Sharma, vice president, Marketing, Brigade Group. Northstar will have one million sq ft of office space. The company also plans to have a helipad in its Brigade Metropolis project in Whitefield. Having a helipad is no longer just ‘snob value’, feels Ms Sharma. It has become essential in a booming economy with less time to spare.

While Brigade is awaiting DGCA approval for its two helipads, the helipad at Golden Gate Properties on Tumkur Road in its 13.1 acre-Golden Grand project, marketed by Asipac, is proposed on the tallest building of the project. The tallest building comprises 24 levels of livable spaces above ground level and is 72 meters high. The helipad is planned at a height of 13 meters above the top of the tallest building with a spread of approximately 225 sq mt. Permission has been acquired from BBMP, BDA, Fire Force Department and Airport Authorities for constructing the helipad, said the spokesperson. Moreover, the helipad will be used by the Firefighting department to rescue people in case of any emergency. The company is in talks with Deccan Aviation to provide other services.

There are others who don’t quite see heli services as the next transport trend. “Helipads are not going to be very functional, they will be more for emergency,” feels Mrs Snehal Mantri, Director, Mantri Developers. “But, in the near future it could be used for countering traffic as well for emergencies — for emergencies will become tomorrow’s necessities,” she says. Ashish Puravankara, Director, Puravankara Projects Limited, is nonchalant about having a helipad in a Puravankara project just yet. Maybe in the future, he says, helicopter shuttles would function like taxis in the City to take care of the traffic congestion.

The crux of the matter — time is money and money is time. While it may be relatively easy to construct a helipad, and get the requisite approvals, it still remains to be seen how well the real estate companies that plan to foray into this venture, are able to follow it through and turn it into a profitable investment. The future holds no limits — whether for commuting to the airport, to the farmhouse, or just to a satellite town for a conference, a medical casevac or fire rescue — this is just the beginning, and a welcome one at that!