The capital will soon get India's first dedicated “heliport“ for flying in and out of Delhi to nearby areas in choppers.

Aviation secretary R N Choubey said the Rs 100-crore project will be inaugurated on February 28 and will be an integrated one with a chopper maintenance, repair and over haul (MRO) unit part of the complex at Rohini.

Owned by Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd (PHHL), the hugely-delayed heliport will have a large number of parking bays and an AC passenger terminal building with car parking area for the flyers.

Choubey said that the heliport will bring choppers within the reach of common man.“Being a busy airport, IGI airport does not have much space for helicopter movement. The Rohini one will be a dedicated heliport and will make chopper movement much easier,“ he added. Only top VVIPs and industrialists manage to get permission for flying in or out of IGI in choppers. The country's top dignitaries, including the president, prime minister, home minister and chief ministers of a few states, use choppers from Safdarjung airport.

“To promote regional air connectivity, Pawan Hans has also prepared a roadmap to connect all the major destinations from this heliport such as Delhi to Shimla,

Haridwar, Dehradun, Mathura, Agra, Meerut and industrial hubs such as Manesar, Bahadurgarh etc,“ PHHL had said in February last year.

Pawan Hans had successfully carried out the first trial test landing an Eccuriall B3 chopper exactly a year ago to assess standard operating procedures and safety standards.Since then it has carried out many more tests. This heliport has a terminal building having capacity of 150 passengers, four hangers with parking capacities of 16 helicopters and 9 parking bays.

Centre to fast-track Gr Noida project

The Centre is keen that work on Delhi's second airport begin as soon as possible. Aviation secretary R N Choubey said that the ministry will pursue the Greater Noida airport project with the next UP government on a priority. “Greater Noida has good connectivity with Delhi and there is no other site in close proximity to Delhi with that type of connectivity,“ he said. TNN