Himachal to add Helipads to attract Heli Taxi for tourists

Dharamsala, November 10, 2013: As there is no scope in sight for expansion of three airports of Himachal and the much required rail network, the Vir Bhadra government of the state has decided to attract the high paid luxury tourists, who are bothered much about Parking-related problems, by providing them Heli Taxi service on the lines of Europe tourism. This was indicated by a high level state official.

He said, “The Himachal Pradesh Government has decided to set up major helipads in the vicinity of Shimla, Dharamsala and Manali from where the other parts of the state can be linked. For that the department has already identified 57 helipads in the state for the heli-taxi service.” He said that if exclusive sites are provided for parking and landing these heli-taxis, the operators will be saved from paying parking fee as well.

The Tourism and Civil Aviation Department has convened a meeting of various airline operators on November 18 to look into issues that could facilitate the revival of the service and provide better connectivity within the state.” The department has invited about 10 operators to discuss this service.

For a new launch government has constituted committees to identify suitable chunks of land to be developed as helipads with hangar facility. In an previous attempt prominent companies came ahead  in running the service includes Pawan Hans, Mesco Airlines, Global Vectra, Shiva Heli Services, Virat Aviation and Acro Tech Aviation Pvt Ltd, but the project could not sevived due to one or the other reasons.