Civil Aviation Minister A Gajapathi Raju on Tuesday inaugurated the country’s first integrated heliport in the national Capital, the first-of-its-kind facility in South Asia.
The Rohini heliport that took nearly two years to build was constructed at a cost of nearly Rs 100 crore by Pawan Hans ltd. The heliport consists of a terminal building with a capacity to host 150 passengers, four hangars with parking capacity for 16 helicopters and nine parking bays.
The heliport that is expected to reduce congestion at the Indira Gandhi International Airport would also provide all helicopter operational facilities, promote regional air connectivity through helicopters in the northern part of the country for regular passenger services, heli services, landing and parking of helicopters, Helicopters Maintenance Services (MRO), disaster management, law and order surveillance and air connectivity to nearby pilgrimage centres besides helicopter emergency medical services.
“”We are excited. This is the first facility in South Asia. Of course, in terms of passengers’ traffic, India is the fastest growing in the world. Helicopter use and cargo are still at a minuscule level in the country. If we have to take them to a higher level, it needs training (training in skill development),” Raju said.
Since Pawan Hans plans to start joyrides from April from the Rohini heliport, when the vacation period sets in, Raju said, “joyrides have a future.”
Pawan Hans has also prepared a roadmap to connect all major destinations from this heliport such as Delhi to Shimla, Haridwar, Dehradun, Mathura, Agra, Meerut and industrial hubs such as Manesar, Bahadurgarh, etc.
“Regional connectivity will be fully achieved when we are able to connect at least all capital cities with district headquarters by air, which can be made possible only by combination of smaller planes and helicopters for seamless connectivity,” the Minister said.
“The facility will be useful in providing medical emergency evacuations, public safety and enhancing tourism. Helicopter services could become economically viable if the prevailing 25 per cent tax on ATF was reduced,” said Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha on the occasion.
Pawan Hans is also working to develop four “heli-hubs” in line with the concept of “Airport-Hubs” and Rohini is the first in this series. These heli-hubs will be a one-point solution for the helicopter business and will act as a heliport for public passenger services, MRO facility for helicopter maintenance and also as a skill development centre for training of pilots, AMEs and technicians.
Delhi lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal and Pawan Hans CMD BP Sharma, among others, were present at the ceremony.
Raju also said that his Ministry has made a request to Baijal as well as the city Government for providing Pawan Hans the adjacent five acres of land for setting up helicopter pilots and AME training centre to meet the growing demand for such professionals.
“As of now, except for the armed forces, everybody else goes abroad for training. We are trying to bring training and MRO works back to the country because that creates jobs. Overall, it (the heliport) is a step in right direction,” Raju said.
The first flyers from Rohini heliport were five young boys and girls from Child Relief and You (CRY), an NGO which works for underprivileged children. They were taken on a chopper for a joyride over Delhi.