With the current year being declared as the year of the helicopter, the ministry of civil aviation has asked for a number of sops from the government in an attempt to improve copter usage in the country. Apart from a cut in excise and customs duty on aviation fuel, the ministry has also asked for a reduction in import duties and taxes applicable on the import of helicopters and copter parts.
?The most important request we have made is for the separation of procedures for helicopter operations from fixed wing aircraft in all the major airports in the country, including separate air traffic controller (ATC) procedures,? officials said.
At present, passengers traveling by helicopters have to go through the same security checks and other procedures at all airports. ?This despite the fact that helicopters take off vertically and do not require any runway or separate air space clearance,? officials said.
The R N Kao Committee had also agreed to the need for a separation of procedures for helicopters. The ministry has also requested for improving the number of copter pilots in the country by encouraging more academies and improving capacity of existing academies. ?A helicopter pilot training centre will come up at the academy in Gondia and HAL which has a training facility will improve capacity,? sources said.
Apart from this, Pawan Hans has signed an MoU with the Indian Air Force to add to the number of pilots working for the government?s helicopter arm. ?They will give the option to pilots retiring from the Air Force to join Pawan Hans,? sources said. ?There is a big gap between the retiring age of most pilots in the Air Force and those retiring in Pawan Hans,? he added. Ministry sources added that they were also talking to the Navy.
The demand for helicopter services is huge in the country with the potential of use ranging from tourism to emergency and ordinary travel. The ministry is using the idea of the year of the helicopter to bring awareness to the sector to encourage other uses of helicopter like tourism and ordinary travel. At present, the ministry is inundated with requests for permission to start helicopter services from both the private and state governments.
