City has 93 helipads, but only one with permission

When a company set out to connect the airport with prime locations in Bengaluru, it found just one helipad with permission from the Director General of Civil Aviation.

The company then went about setting up its own helipad at Electronics City. It already has a helipad at the Kempegowda International Airport, about 34 km from Vidhana Soudha.

The new helipad at Electronics City is coming up on leased land. It is receiving final touches ahead of the launch of services in the first week of March.

"Our heliports are coming up complete with safety measures like ambulances, fire safety equipment, security checks and waiting lounges," says KNG Nair, chairman and managing director of Thumby Aviation, which is launching the heli-taxi service.      

Connecting the airport to bustling centres such as Malleswaram, M G Road, Jayanagar and Koramangala is still a long way off, since they no helipads there are operational at the moment.

Only the rooftop helipad at ITC Gardenia has acquired permission from DGCA, Nair says. He hopes eventually to get permission to land at some of the other helipads.

The heli-taxi project is the brainchild of Nair, who retired as group captain, and his son Govind Nair, who together own Thumby Aviation.

Govind Nair, director, business development, says, "Our endeavour is to engage more helipads to make it an intra-city service. The travel between the airport and Electronics City normally takes two to three hours but will now take just 15 minutes."

The company conducted a study on traffic flow from the airport to different parts of the city."It found that people took two to three hours to reach their destination. That's when we decided to launch our first service from the airport to Electronics City," says KNG Nair.

The concept of chartering a helicopter is common, but not the idea of helitaxis.

"We wanted to give the common man a chance to purchase a seat instead of having to book a whole helicopter," he explains.

The survey also determined the pricing: there weren't many takers for tickets priced at Rs 7,000 or more. "But many said about Rs 3,000 was affordable. That helped us zero in on a price," he says.

Box:

Who runs it?

KNG Nair, CMD of Thumby  Aviation, was group captain  when he took premature retirement  from the Indian Air Force in 1998. He then served as head of  operations of leading helicopter  companies in India.
A veteran pilot with over 16,000 hours of incident-free  flying to his credit, he is also  the recipient of a Presidential  award for gallantry.
His son Govind Nair is a mechanical engineer with an  MBA. He was area manager of  Colgate Palmolive and joined  his father's business in 2015.

Airport to where?

PHASE I
(Six months starting now)
Electronics City
HAL Airport

PHASE II
(Six months from now)
ITC Gardenia, near Mallya Hospital
Ritz Carlton,
Residency Road
Crowne Plaza Hotel,
Electronics City

How much?

A ticket is priced at Rs 3,500.
With GST of 18% added, it comes  to Rs 4,130. Bookings can be done on the HeliTaxii app, available on Playstore and App Store.
Tickets are also sold at the airport and Electronics City.

Timings

6:30 am to 9:30 am
3:30 pm to 6:15 pm
(Regular shuttles in line with road traffic peak hours; maximum  of 12 up-and-down trips in  each session)

Trip duration

15 minutes, as against two to
three hours by road

Who is it for?

The service is open to  everyone, but is targeted at  consultants and senior executives  of IT companies.

How many choppers?

The heli-taxi services begin with two  Bell 407 helicopters, with a capacity of  six passengers each.

Thumby Aviation also  owns a 13-seater Bell  412 which it plans to  deploy if the service  catches on. The number  is likely to go up to
six in two years.