In a bid to mark a revolutionary step, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia introduced a new helicopter policy on Friday. Under the new policy, dedicated hubs and corridors would be established. In addition, landing charges and parking deposits will also be abolished to boost commercial operations.
A new helicopter policy for the whole country
While speaking at the 3rd Helicopter Summit organised by industry body FICCI in Dehradun, Scindia asserted, “Today, I want to announce a new helicopter policy for the whole country. We have ten steps that are going to be part of this policy.”
He also informed that the government is going to set up a dedicated helicopter-acceleration cell in the Civil Aviation Ministry that will particularly focus on the helicopter industry’s issues. Moving further, he also stated that Officers of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Air Traffic Control (ATC) will keep in touch with the helicopter industry stakeholders to ensure that adequate training is given to all individuals regarding helicopter issues.
Talking about the corridors, Scindia noted, “As a beginning, we are going to start with three dedicated corridors for helicopters — Juhu-Pune-Juhu, Mahalakshmi racecourse-Pune-Mahalakshmi racecourse, and Gandhinagar-Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar. The government has chosen three expressways — Delhi-Bombay expressway, Ambala-Kotputli expressway, and Amritsar-Bhatinda-Jamnagar expressway — where the heliports would be set up along the expressway so that evacuation of accident victims can be done immediately.”
Helicopter to become a vehicle of common people
Scindia went on to state that, “Helicopter penetration is a priority in India and with this thought must come action. This is epitomized by the Prime Minister’s actionable ideas, ways of thinking and working.”
“We are trying to make helicopters a vehicle of common people. We aim to provide the best service when it comes to helicopters,” he added.
Revolution in Indian aviation
Earlier reported by TFI, On September 15, Tata Sons and SpiceJet Chairman Ajay Singh officially submitted their final bids to buy India’s flag carrier Air India. Now, the wait is finally over. Tata Sons have won the bid for purchasing the national carrier – Air India.
Difficulties like out-of-date aircraft, inability to pay its employees, and lack of adequate service to passengers added to Air India’s deterioration. If there is one corporate group that can turn around the fortunes of Air India, it is the Tata Sons. Air India was snatched away from JRD Tata, and now, Ratan Tata is bringing the airline back to the empire.
Read more: Tata to purchase Air India: The start of a revolution in Indian aviation
Ever since the Modi Government stormed back into power in 2019, it has been focusing on the Civil Aviation Industry providing a major boost to the particular sector. As earlier reported by TFI, Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman inducted a few policies and initiatives that focused on making the country self-reliant in the aviation sector. With such developments, it can be said that India’s aviation sector is all set for a revolution.