Deccan SkyLimo helicopter taxi service from Bangalore airport

Bangalore’s traffic jams are legendary. Those landing at the Bangalore International Airport oftne have to travel hours through the slow-moving traffic to reach their destinations.

Now if you are in a hurry and have a lot of money, Air Deccan will take care of that. The company, now owned by Kingfisher, has launched an airport helicopter taxi service.

The Deccan SkyLimo is a helicopter charter service which aims at ferrying air passengers between the Bangalore International Airport at Devanahalli and select IT hubs in the south Indian metropolis.

Dubbed as the first of its kind air taxi service to be launched from any airport in the country, the SkyLimo launched by Deccan Aviation starts operations on July 2, 2008. The first flight is to be between Bangalore International Airport and Electronics City, Whitefield and HAL Airport.

A four-seater Bell 206 JetRanger helicopter has been put in to service as the SkyLimo.  The deccan SkyLimo service is available only during the day, from 6.30 am to 6 pm, and will cover the distance in 15-20 minutes.

Deccan has fixed the SkyLimo fare in the range of Rs 4,800 a person to Rs 5,800 per person per trip. A helipad also has been constructed by the aviation company on the the BIAL premises, just about a kilometre’s distance from the airstrip. The new Bangalore International Airport is likely to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a few days.

According to Captain Gopinath, managing director of Deccan Aviation, the company will also be pumping in as much as $12 million in the next six months to start SkyLimo helicopter charter services in Mumbai and Hyderabad. This would be in addition to the services in Bangalore. Deccan Aviation has already invested $5 million for the purchase of two helicopters for the Bangalore SkyLimo operations. It is now looking at buying four more to expand the helicopter charter services to Mumbai and Hyderabad.