The Hindu : Front Page : Helicopter flights on offer to airport

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Tuesday, Jun 23, 2009
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Helicopter flights on offer to airport

S. Sandeep Kumar

Offer enables passengers to reach Shamshabad in 15 minutes flat

— PHOTO: P.V. SIVAKUMAR

LEARNING CURVE: School children have a close look at a helicopter at Hitex centre in Hyderabad on Monday.

HYDERABAD: Reaching the Shamshabad Airport takes more time than flying to Mumbai? Well, that may not be the case anymore. You can now be at the new airport in 15 minutes flat.

Turbo Aviation Private Limited, a Hyderabad-based aviation firm, is now offering a flight to the airport in a helicopter from Monday.

The offer sounds tempting, but comes with a price of nearly Rs. 4,500 per trip. Passengers can board the Rs. 3 crore worth, Robinson R-44 helicopter, from three different pick-up points, including Begumpet Airport, Ramoji Film City and Hitex convention centre.

While time taken to reach the airport by road would take more than an hour, passengers utilising this service would reach there in 15 minutes from Ramoji Film City and Hitex centre and in less than ten minutes from Begumpet Airport, said Turbo Aviation Private Limited Managing Director V. Umesh.

The four-seater helicopter would start trips from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and will make a minimum of 20 trips per day.

Passengers have to book the slot a day in advance to enable the operators store required fuel. However, it is mandatory for passengers to furnish their address and provide a photocopy of their identity proof to the service provider.

As an inaugural offer, the company is also offering a 15-minute ride in the helicopter around Hitex centre at a cost of Rs. 2,000 per passenger till July 1.

There is also an option of travelling around the city and get a bird’s eye view of tourist spots, including Charminar and Tank Bund, in 30 minutes costing Rs. 25,000 per passenger.

The company also rents out helicopters for film shootings and private functions like marriages.

“Recently, a marriage party hired our service to shower rose petals on the bride and bridegroom from the helicopter paying Rs. 1 lakh per hour,” said K. Gopal, company operations manager.

Demonstration

As part of creating awareness about career prospects in aviation industry, the company organised a demonstration of the helicopter and interactive session with pilots for school children at Hitex.

The programme would be conducted for ten days and school managements can contact the company on phone number 27762698.

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