The country’s first integrated heliport, a dedicated landing facility for helicopters, was opened here on Tuesday.
The heliport consists of a terminal building with a capacity for 150 passengers, four hangers with parking capacities for 16 helicopters, and nine parking bays.
In a statement, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said the Rohini heliport was completed in almost two years at a cost of nearly ₹100 crore. The heliport is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Pawan Hans Limited (HPL).
The heliport will provide all helicopter operational facilities and will de-congest the busy Indira Gandhi International Airport. It will also promote regional air connectivity in the northern part of the country for regular passenger services.
The heliport will also have services such as helicopter maintenance, disaster management, helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) and law-and-order surveillance.
Pawan Hans has also prepared a roadmap for connecting major destinations from the heliport, including Shimla, Haridwar, Dehradun, Mathura, Agra and Meerut and industrial hubs such as Manesar and Bahadurgarh.
PHL is working on its business diversification and has devised a ‘Strategic Plan - 2020’, according to which the company will diversify into small fixed wing and seaplane operations; Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) business; and developing helipads and heliports.
It is working to develop four ‘heli-hubs’ and the Rohini heliport is the first in this series.