Doubts over heli-taxi service

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, June 8

Even though the Himachal Government has sought Army permission to use Ananndale ground for landing of heli tax, hoteliers and those associated with the tourism industry are not very upbeat about the launch of the service to Chandigarh, considering the one-hour journey to Jubbarhatti airport.

Though the Department of Tourism and Civil Aviation launched the heli-taxi services to Chandigarh with much fanfare, questions are now being raised on its viability owing to the one-hour drive from Shimla to Jubbarhatti for the 20-minute journey. The fact that one has to reach an hour before the flight time would make the journey quite an ordeal.

The service has been welcomed by everyone, especially the hoteliers. However, if the flight takes off and lands at Annandale, the service will be more useful, feel majority hoteliers.

“The Army authorities have acceded to our request to allow use of the Annandale ground for landing of the helicopter to be able to reduce the travelling time,” revealed Ram Subhag Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, Tourism.

He said the moment the helipad at Dhalli is ready within the next few months, the heli-taxi service would run from there. This, he added, would obviously cut down the travelling time as compared to the time one takes to travel all the way to Jubbarhatti.

“The heli-taxi service could do well during the tourist season but I have serious doubts if locals would like to avail it due to one hour travel time to Jubbarhatti,” said Deepak Sood of Ambassador Travels, here.

He said running the service from Dhalli, once the helipad comes up would help ensure that more people use it.

“I am quite skeptical about the success of the heli-taxi service as the locals would prefer to drive down or hire a taxi for Rs 3,000 for the entire day, rather than spend almost Rs 6,000 for the to and fro service,” said a hotelier.

No takers last time

The previous time the heli-taxi service was launched during the BJP regime, there were no takers for the service because of the exorbitant charges. There was not even a second flight after the inauguration of the service, considered essential to rope in high end tourists and improve connectivity, especially to remote areas.