Ahmedabad: Gujarat headquartered Air charter service Aerotrans today announced its recent expansion of operations through increased fleet of its airplanes and helicopters.  The entire fleet will be available for anyone requiring the air travel service within or outside Gujarat. Such service is utilized mainly by those who are out for leisure, business or religious trips and also for ferrying the organs for transplantation and patients in urgent needs.

Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, Director of Aerotrans informs ‘we have 6 aeroplanes to offer short as well as long distance charters. The charter rates range from INR 45,000 per hour up to INR 1,75,000 per hour, the speed of the aircrafts range from 230kmph to 650kmph. Our fleet provides the best experience in luxury and efficiency in each category of aeroplanes, thereby making us as the most unique as well as a company with the most comprehensive offerings for air charters in India. We have small jets to enable clients to travel to any part of the country. We have small piston engine aeroplanes as well as turboprop aeroplanes for shorter distances. We offer aeroplanes for reaching religious, leisure as well as holiday destinations. A few such destinations include Bhuj, Daman, Diu, Keshod, Mandvi, Porbandar, Abu Road, Ranthambore, Udaipur, Ujjain, Shirdi, Khajuraho, etc.’

Aerotrans has also three helicopters for going from point-to-point locations that don’t have airstrips. Such charters could commence from the Sabarmati riverfront aerodrome or from any helipad as desired by the client.

Mr. Gandhi said, ‘there are many industrial parks and complexes which are far from airports. Commuting by helicopters provides a lot of convenience and saves time. A few such industrial parks include Ankleshwar, Dahej, Jhagadia, Kadi, Sachin, Sanand, Vallabh Vidyanagar, Vatva, Vapi, etc. There are many religious as well as holiday destinations which are currently not connected by airstrips. Such locations could be conveniently reached in a helicopter. These include Dholavira, Dhordo, Dwarka, Girnar, Palitana, SasanGir, Somnath, Statue of Unity, etc’

Aerotrans has commenced the helicopter joy rides from the Water Aerodrome on Sabarmati River front on 1 January 2022. Since then, the rides are going 100% full. All helicopter ride bookings are done online through the website of Aerotrans at aerotrans.in  The rides are conducted under the supervision of Ahmedabad Air Traffic Controller. The price per passenger for a joy ride is INR 2,360.  According to Mr. Gandhi, Joy rides from Science City could commence from March 2022. 

The joy rides cover aerial view of Sabarmati Riverfront, Patan restaurant, Sabarmati Ashram, Sabarmati Jail, Torrent Power Station, Narendra Modi stadium and other important places. The Joy rides service is offered during Fridays and Saturdays through two Bell 407 model helicopters. While one of two helicopters is for joy ride, the other is kept as stand-by. Daily 15 rides are operated with each carrying 5 passengers. In a day, 75 passengers are carried in-total. Each ride is approximately 9 minutes long.

Mr. Gandhi points out that in India, we correlate aviation with the big airline companies like SpiceJet, Indigo, Air India etc, however all the aviation activities may be divided into three categories: Defence aviation, civil aviation and general aviation. General aviation is that branch that includes all civilians flying from gliders to jet aircrafts, covering the areas such as pilot training, business/personal/medical transportation, emergency/search/rescue operations, mapping, surveying, public security, advertising, recreation and farming.

He further informs, ‘combining civil aviation and general aviation aircrafts worldwide, nearly 90% of the world’s aircrafts are in general aviation and only 10% in civil aviation though the revenues derived from civil aviation are up to 85% of the total revenues. Nearly 90% of the certified pilots fly aircrafts in the general aviation segment. Only 20% fly in civil aviation aircrafts. General aviation generates more than USD 150 billion through economic activities in the USA, giving jobs to a little less than 1 crore people. Civil aviation can not survive without a strong general aviation segment, anywhere in the world. Civil aviation is dependent on general aviation for pilots as well as for all ancillary support. General aviation needs to be given focus to create pilots, engineers, ground staff, etc. Investment in general aviation will lead to a smooth growth of civil aviation in any country. India is at a very primary stage in general aviation. Civil aviation and general aviation need to grow in a proportionate manner. Currently, civil aviation has grown disproportionately larger than the general aviation segment in India. This is creating a big bottleneck in the civil aviation, thus resulting in higher costs for the civil aviation sector. DeshGujarat