Govt investing Rs 2,361 crore to boost helicopter services in Srinagar & Jammu

Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya M. Scindia today said that a civil aviation enclave will be built in Jammu at a cost of Rs 861 crores and Srinagar’s present terminal will be expanded three times from 20,000 square meters to 60,000 square metres with an investment of Rs 1500 crores.

Scindia said this while inaugurating 4th Heli-India Summit 2022 with the theme ‘Helicopters for last Mile Connectivity’ at Sher-e-Kashmir International Conference Centre, Srinagar.

Scindia said that helicopters have multifarious roles, providing urban connectivity which is no more an elitist prerogative in India but is based on PM Narendra Modi’s vision ‘Sab Ude, Sab Jude’. The other roles of helicopter service has been the emergency medical services and disaster management during floods, rescue operations etc.,

The Ministerpointed out that Jammu & Kashmir has set an example of the best use of helicopter service when it erected transmission lines and towers using heli-cranes (sky cranes) on the Peer Panjal mountain range, the minister added.

Praising PM Narendra Modi for bringing a revolution in the Civil Aviation sector in India from 2014 onwards, Scindia said that from 1947 to 2014, the country had only 74 airports, but now the number has increased to 141, with 67 added in last seven years which shows the pace of progress in the Civil Aviation sector. The government is committed to increase the number to above 200 in the next few years, Scindia added.

The minister said steps such as doing away with the landing & parking charges for helicopter service, creation of specific helicopter corridors, helipads to be given priority while framing DPR for all new highways, upgradation of Juhu airbase to accommodate night operations etc. were taken to their logical end.

HeliSewa portal is fully online and being used by all operators for obtaining landing permissions to helipads, and it also is creating a database of helipads in the country.

The Minister informed that today the guidelines on Fractional Ownership Model have been released to help grow the non-scheduled operations. Fractional ownership will lower the barrier on the cost of acquisition of helicopters and aeroplanes through pooled capital by multiple owners.

Scindia said that we have also decided to incubate a HEMS pilot called Project Sanjeevani by deploying a helicopter in the next few weeks to provide emergency medical services at AIIMS Rishikesh. The helicopter will be based at the hospital at 20 min notice and will have a service cover to an area of 150 km radius.

Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha, who was special guest during the summit said that the decision taken by the J&K UT government of decreasing VAT on Aviation Turbine Fuel from 26.5 percent to one percent has increased air connectivity to J&K, with more than 100 flights being operated from J&K now.