Traffic in Bangalore is horrendous. Dreading your journey to and from Bangalore’s Kempegowda International Airport is pretty much expected. There’s surely an addition to annoyance if you are stuck in traffic during the rush hours. Can it be termed as a ghastly nightmare? Absolutely yes. Even radio and your favorite playlist fails to entertain you. This distressing journey by road might now be avoidable. All kudos to the advancement of helicopter taxi service in the Silicon Valley. You might spot heliports popping up in between KIA and Electronics City. The services are expected to kick-start from tomorrow, Monday, 5th March.
Heli-Taxi service certainly embarks a sign of progress. The city has been largely criticized for its awful traffic management and for long. Time to kiss goodbye to the very annoying vehicular traffic congestion. Bringing advanced helicopter taxi service on boards is guaranteed to cut down the travel time from a good 3 hours to just 15 minutes.
Operated by Thumby Aviation Private Limited, the idea is very much inspired from the services running in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo. Over 300 helicopter fly around as heli-taxis in Sao Paulo, easing out citizens and offering top-notch assistance to journeys, far-off the bustle and congestion on road. The venture is pioneered first in the country in the Silicon Valley. Six seater helicopters – ‘Bell – 407” are proposed for use in the service. At the moment, only two helicopters would be assigned for the service. Operations will kick-off in two shifts. Three trips will be performed from Kempegowda International Airport and Electronics City from 6.30 in the dawn to 9.30 A.M to and fro. An evening shift from 3.00 to 6.15 P.M has been sanctioned as well. The services aim at befitting the populace of Bangalore. Instead of trucking on with a dredful journey of good three hours on-road, you can now wrap up your trips in just 15 minutes.
Ofcourse the heli-taxi service is not suitable to bag-in by citizens of all class. Where the usual price rates for a 50 KM drive from the Kepegowda International Airport (KIA) to Electronics City could charge you anywhere in between Rs.1500-2500, the heli-rides are priced at Rs.4130 per passenger, inclusive of all taxes. Things you should learn about in advance. The cost assigned include transport charges from airport terminals to the helipad and 15-KG carry-on luggage per passenger. Therefore, if you have been travelling with excess luggage, the same needs to be ferried over ground at additional expenses.
Top honchos in the industry claims that this step of progress will pave way for other cities to adopt the idea and start Heli-Taxi services soon. Apart from cutting-down travel time, it will also help fix upon competitive pricing for air-borne taxi services. As per the plan pitched, leading government in the state expect to open-up as many as 90 helipads across the length and breadth of the city. However, as they say, proof is in the pudding. We certainly must wait and see how many opens-up in a span of one year.
Are you excited already? Wish to make a booking right-away? Download the Heli-Taxi mobile app and start using. Opt for the ‘Fly Now’ option. Obviously, it would be serviceable only from tomorrow. You could also switch to ‘Fly Later’ and go over the details mentioned. Everything, from nitty-gritties related to the boarding and drop locations to baggage details will be mentioned in the app. Go and start flying!