The DGCA permission to use the helipad by the Essar group will help the latter to fly its top executives directly to its steel plant situated in Hazira, near Surat and to their upcoming refinery project near Jamnagar. At present, all the corporates in Mumbai use the Juhu airport to ferry their executives to their plants. Politicians, though are using the naval heliport situated in Colaba and Raj Bhavan helipad in Walkeshwar.

Aviation experts say that the group can even lend its heliport to be used by other corporates who want to avoid Mumbai traffic. It takes more than two hours to travel from North Mumbai to South Mumbai during non-peak hours and a helicopter ride cancut short the journey time into few minutes.

Though Essar House is not situated near the central business districts of Nariman Point and Fort, corporate travellers can take a 20 minutes auto ride to Nariman Point area from Mahalaxmi. Essar has been granted permission by the DGCA for a helipad as there are no other tall buildings near Essar House. A heliport in Nariman Point or Fort is unviable due to presence of many towering buildings and noise pollution.

A heliport in South Mumbai has been a major demand of the corporate sector but no decision has been taken on this front as yet. In fact, the first clearance to Essar's heliport by the DGCA took more than four years. Essar currently owns a Bell helicopter and a fixed wing aircraft. With the permission from the DGCA, the company is now waiting for clearances from other government agencies like Airport Authority of India, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Wireless Authority and Mumbai Police.

A proposed helipad near President Hotel in Colaba is miredin controversy as locals were agitating over the noise pollution and displacement of slum-dwellers. The use of helipad in decommissioned aircraft carrier Vikrant is also on the cards.