Thaindian News

By Juhan Samuel

Bangalore/Kochi, Mar 9 (ANI): If things move in the right way, Indian skies would be seeing more choppers than ever before.

It is estimated that in two to three years time in India there will be a surge in chopper business not only in the armed forces but also for civil uses.

Many businessmen, political parties and hospitals now prefer to own a flying machine for fast and safe travel.

More and more uses of the helicopter is making its demand to surge. The helicopters are popular across the world for their technical capabilities. They are capable of flying at varied altitudes and under challenging conditions.

For emergency situations and in the hospitality sector it is proving to be highly successful.

Seeing the future demand, Indian aeronautical major, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), has plans in the pipeline to manufacture 1,500 helicopters in the next 10 years, including 100 Dhruvs, 300 light utility helicopters and 400 Indian multi-role helicopters.

Besides this, it has bagged orders for 159 Dhruvs from the Army and the Air force.

The company is already producing Advanced Light Helicopter for the Indian army and navy as well apart from private parties.

BEL or Bharat Electronics Ltd, another company has also recently acquired over 25 orders from various customers.

World’s leading helicopter manufacturer, Eurocopter has introduced the AS350 B3 Ecureuil and EC130 B4 helicopters to promote Heli tourism in Kerala.

The government is also concentrating on building infrastructure for dedicated helipads and separate helicopter corridors, metro cities already have this facility and it will be spread across major villages.

Wing Commander (Retd.) C. D. Upadhyay, Chief Executive Officer of HATSOFF,said:”India has a fleet of over 200 to 250 civilian registered helicopters, as of now. It is expected to rise to 500 in the next few years, which will be needing around 1000 pilots and training will be required to bring down the cost.

In the helicopter tourism, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Kashmir, and the entire northeast region hold scope for a huge demand.

Air taxi service and charter system is very prominent among politicians, businessmen and high profile tourists.

This kind of a boom in the civil aviation sector and foreseeing the huge military requirements in the country, many foreign and world class aircraft makers have come forward to joint venture with Indian establishments. (ANI)