Helicopter services for affluent tourists soon (NT)

Helicopter services for affluent tourists soon Published on: July 11, 2013 - 01:14 Story Summary: The affluent tourists would now be able to not only avoid the traffic jams and arduous journeys from the airport to their respective hotels but also able to save a lot of time PANAJI: The affluent tourists would now be able to not only avoid the traffic jams and arduous journeys from the airport to their respective hotels but also able to save a lot of time to enjoy during their visit to the state in near future as the plan to operate helicopter services between the airport and hotels would materialise soon. The airport director, Mr H Suresh, told The Navhind Times on Wednesday that helicopter services between the airport and various hotels would be a reality soon. The helicopter services will be run by private operators. “The services are expected to start in near future,” he said but declined to give exact date from when the services would begin. He said that helicopter services are viable and would be beneficial to the hoteliers as well as the tourists, who would be able to save a lot of time besides avoiding traffic jams and stress of road journey. The helicopter services would not have any problem on the airport services nor a burden on staff, he added. Stating that the new terminal building with state-of-art facilities would be completed and made operational in the next two to three months, he went on to add that this would help the passengers in a big way as the new terminal building has been designed to handle 2,750 passengers per hour. Mr Suresh further said the Dabolim airport could serve the state better if civilian services were allowed to be operated round-the-clock. “We will have been able to spread out the schedules and the congestion that is seen at the airport as well as outside especially as regards to parking can be taken care of,” he said. He also said that the airport lacked parking space for the chartered and other aircraft that land on non-scheduled flights. “Though we have a master plan for upgradation of the airport the land required was yet to be made available to the Airport Authority of India to build the parking bays,” he said. He said that a 12-acre land within the airport complex, adjacent to the civilian enclave, was identified for the project and the Navy had even agreed to hand it over to the AAI following prolonged negotiations by the then Governor of the state, Dr S S Sidhu but after his departure from the state there has not been any headway. As per the master plan, the AAI has planned to construct five parking slots for wide-bodied aircraft and another four for narrow-bodied aircraft. He said that this could help the tourism industry and others as the aircraft, which carry tourists or business tycoons, now have to be flown to either Mumbai or Bangalore as there was no parking space at the Dabolim airport http://www.navhindtimes.in/goa-news/helicopter-services-affluent-tourists-soon