When Pune International Airport’s runway was closed for re-carpeting, and operations of commercial
flights were suspended in October, many travellers were caught by surprise. It suddenly threw all their holiday and business travel plans into disarray. Or did it?
Mumbai-based advertising professional Sakshi Agarwal and her banker husband had planned a week-long workcation to Pune and Aamby Valley. The duo simply booked seats on Blade India instead of cancelling their trip. This urban air mobility (UAM) company offers daily scheduled-by-the seat helicopter services between Mumbai and Pune, just saving the couple’s vacation.
Its flights take off from Mumbai’s Juhu Aerodrome and land at its vertiport in Kharadi within 40 minutes, offering travellers an alternate option to commercial flights. Is it any surprise then that there are an increasing number of takers for UAM services?
In case you are still wondering why, let’s do some number crunching. Around 65 Indian cities have an aggregate population of 165 million and road congestion is only expected to worsen as urbanisation increases. The country has 22 cars per 1000 people as compared to 850 in the UK. As cities become increasingly overcrowded innovative vertical mobility and infrastructure solutions are the need of the hour.
ZIP, ZAP, ZOOM
UAM services have existed in India for a long time – visitors to religious places like J&K’s Mata Vaishno Devi Temple often take helicopter rides to visit the main shrine. Change in lifestyle and preferences due to COVID-19 only exacerbated this need.
Last year, the Uttarakhand state government flagged-off a helicopter service on the Dehradun-New Tehri-Srinagar-Gauchar route under the ‘Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik Regional Connectivity Scheme (UDAN-RCS) scheme. Pawan Hans operates these low-cost helicopter services, which can be availed by people three times a week.
Recently, Rajasthan Tourism collaborated with Skyline Services to introduce helicopter tourism services in the state. In a bid to promote tourism, it is encouraging tourists to book a helicopter ride between the popular destinations of Udaipur, Kumbhalgarh and Nathdwara.
Amit Dutta, MD of Blade India is unsurprised to see this rising interest in UAM. According to him, the opportunity for these services in India lies in business, pilgrimage and leisure travel, mega events, organ transfers, air ambulances and last-mile delivery, and will see increased adoption.
“India is the third largest aviation market in the world with its passenger traffic standing at 341.05 million as of 2019. This just goes on to show the demand in domestic travel that UAM can cater to as well,” he pointed out.
PRIVILIGE DURING PILGRIMAGE
UAM is best-suited for the elderly and the busy who form the bulk of pilgrimage and leisure travel. Its key USP is convenience and comfort. Rather than spending long hours down winding and treacherous roads, they can quickly fly into the destination and back within a day, should they so wish.
Moreover, the prices are well within most people’s reach. Blade’s per seat ticket price to leisure routes like Aamby Valley start as low as INR 5,000. Considering the time one would otherwise spend on the road to reach these destinations coupled with increasing fuel prices, this appears as a more efficient and economical alternative.
In fact, Blade’s pilgrimage route from Mumbai/Pune to Shirdi has witnessed tremendous response. And this is not just because a person can do their Shirdi darshan and return on the same day, but also since the company curates a holistic travel package. This includes arranging for a VIP darshan, pick-up and drop-off and refreshments on the journey.
“Similarly, instead of a one-time trip, many of our corporate fliers have adopted UAM as a habit, which is clearly evident from our 63% repeat customer rate. Considering we are now their mode of daily commute, we introduced booklets of 10 to 30 flight passes which our frequent fliers can purchase in bulk,” Dutta added.
KEEPING PACE
According to KPMG, India’s domestic tourism activity is expected to go up from 1.85 billion in 2018 to 2.8 billion by 2022. Incidentally, there is a huge behavioural shift in way people consider travel; it is not just about reaching a destination, but about the overall adventure involved. They want luxurious experiences and an opportunity to spend more time at the destination rather than in transit.
This bodes well for UAM as people prefer seamless experiences and time efficiency above all else. Sensing this, Blade India has already collaborated with Aamby Valley and Hilton Shillim Estate Retreat Resort and Spa to offer transport service to their guests. It is soon launching services between Bangalore, Coorg and Kabini in Karnataka.
Dutta explained that travellers can book a flight from any place in India to Bangalore airport, and then take a Blade helicopter to either Coorg or Kabini and land straight into the hotel properties courtesy its partnership. “What was earlier seen as a tiresome journey is now a seamless and efficient experience because of UAM, which is bound to encourage more people to travel,” he said.
ACE OF SPACE
Vertical aviation has several advantages for travellers as well as operations. one of the key one for the latter is that it does not need hundreds of acres of land and can be easily built in central locations. This helps the UAM service provider to expand its base in multiple locations since there are limited restrictions.
Blade operations started in Maharashtra with four main landing locations in Mumbai’s Mahalaxmi Race Course and Juhu Aerodrome, Yoo Villas in Pune and one in Shirdi. Since Shirdi did not have a landing location, it developed a vertiport just 15 minutes away from the city temple.
This quick scalability is good news for hotel properties situated outsidecities, which are not easily accessible and involve hours of commute. Short haul aviation services can solve their major pain point by bringing them much closer to the cities and their target customers. UAMs, in turn, can partner with hotels to curate special packages making this a mutually beneficial exercise as they spread their wings, literally and figuratively.
