Taxi service gets a suitable buoy

Rs 10.4 crore helicopter facility nearly ready in Hadapsar for destinations within 300 km, including Shirdi, Baramati and Aurangabad
Dheeraj Bengrut
Posted On Thursday, December 13, 2012 at 04:21:52 PM

Should all go according to plan, Puneites and their cousins from sister cities may be able to zip around up in the air, rationing on precious time. A helicopter taxi service is all set to take off in six months, connecting Pune to different destinations which will include industry hubs, tourist and pilgrimage centres within a radius of 300 km. It will also serve as an air ambulance facility and help the local police, in case of emergency. In the initial stage, the service will connect Pune to Shirdi, Mumbai, Baramati and Aurangabad the number of destinations will be increased after assessing the response to the service.

Manoj Bidkar

One of the three helipads coming up in Hadapsar; a trial run was conducted recently (inset)

Indias leading helicopter service provider, Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd has initiated this project, work for which kicked off in January this year at the Gliding Centre Ground in Hadapsar. The business fraternity from Pune is upbeat about the service. City builder DS Kulkarni said, This will benefit the industrial sector in and around Pune. Many businessmen, including myself, hire private choppers to visit places like Kolhapur, Nashik and Solapur. This service will not only provide an assured link to these cities not having airports but will also offer reasonable fares. MCCIA Director General Anant Sardeshmukh said, This service will be convenient for frequent flyers to Mumbai and Shirdi. Foreign delegates landing in Mumbai can be flown in good time to

Pune. Offering details on the project, Senior Manager and Executive Assistant to the CMD, Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd, Manish Rokade said, It will not only be a helicopter taxi service, but also a training centre. The project has been named Development of Helicopter Training Institute and Heliport at Gliding Centre, Hadapsar. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Union Civil Aviation Department will carry out the plan. The infrastructure is being readied at the gliding ground and permissions and other procedures are being completed. We expect to start the service within the next six months. The fares are yet to be decided. A decision on it will be take soon. Also, we will provide air ambulance service to hospitals in rural areas and to local police in emergency, added Rokade. This service is mainly aimed to connect district places in Maharashtra, where there is no air connectivity, he added. The facility is coming up on an area of 230 acres of the gliding ground. There are three helipads of 45m X 45m, and two separate parking spaces for the helicopters of 20 m X 20 m. A big hangar of around 16,000 sq ft for stationing helicopters under the roof has been built. Two helipads are adjacent to the hangar and one is 100 metres away from it having a taxi-way road to go through. The project cost has been estimated at around Rs 10.4 crore. The plan will be completed by the end of January 2013. Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd Base Manager Sanjeev Rajauria told Mirror, Our work is almost done and the services will start soon. On November 5, we carried out a trial run. The speciality of the hangar made here in its roof, with a special thermal insulated roofing system by United Roofing Services of Pune, which controls the weather inside the hanger in all the three seasons. The company currently has a fleet of over 50 helicopters, which includes the Dauphin SA-365N, Dauphin AS365N3, Bell 206 L4, Bell 407, AS 350 B3 and MI-172. The Central government has 51 per cent and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has 49 per cent shareholding in the company. Also, the company provides helicopter services to the oil sector, operates in hilly and inaccessible areas, and promotes heli-tourism while providing chartered flights for the promotion of travel and tourism in the country.

Medical air transport is recommended for patients who need to be moved quickly because of a serious illness or injury. This could include transplant patients, cardiac patients, neonatal conditions, evacuations or bringing a loved one home from a distant location