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As a chartered helicopter operator for Chardham since 2009 and as a licenced DGCA-approved helicopter operator since 2015, Mathur has a 360-degree view of how heli-tourism has evolved and shaped up in the mountainous Himalayan state of Uttarakhand over the last one-and-a-half decade.
“Less than 10 charters used to happen in the whole year for Chardham in 2010. Today, between 4000 and 5000 charter trips happen in a year. There has been a huge uptick in demand for heli-tourism to Chardham alone,” says Mathur. Heritage Aviation alone has carried 300 charters to Chardham in the first two months of May and June. In the post-monsoon season, he says the company also has a similar number of confirmed bookings.
Although a major chunk of their operations are in Uttarakhand, they also operate charters for Machail Mata Temple in Kishtwar, Amarnath temple, etc, during the pilgrim season. “We also operated the Statue of Unity for 12 months as a pilot before Covid. They have been shortlisted again by the Gujarat government for the same operations on the basis of the bidding process, and a final decision is awaited.
“We have seven helicopters under our operations – 3 multi-engine and 4 single-engine helicopters,” Mathur said.
He said that the company has emerged as a specialist helicopter operator for mountains because of the long experience of operating in Uttarakhand. “Operations in mountainous terrain is a tricky and challenging task. We have gained expertise in such conditions,” he said.
While COVID-19 has dealt a body blow to small aircraft operators, Mathur said that the small aircraft industry would have come to a cropper if it were not for the sudden spurt in domestic travel. He said that Heritage Aviation also underwent a restructuring in 2021, where the company had to dispose of two private jets.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami announced that four villages have been chosen for the ‘Best Tourism Village’ award by the Union Ministry of Tourism. These awards will be presented on International Tourism Day, acknowledging efforts to boost rural tourism and sustainability in Uttarakhand. The selected villages include Jakhol, Harshil, Seemant Gunji, and Soupi.
In order to reduce the dependency on Chardham and spiritual tourism, the company started participating in the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), and today, Heritage Aviation operates 5 cities from their base in Dehradun and Haldwani. From Dehradun they operate regular service to Chamoli and Uttarkashi and from Haldwani to Munsiyari, Champawat and Pithoragarh. “We are the only helicopter operator operating under the RCS scheme now,” he said, adding, “We carry both locals as well as tourists on these routes.”
Mathur said that they have aggressive plans to expand through RCS. “We will soon commence operations in Himachal Pradesh – from Shimla to Kinnaur and Kullu and from Chandigarh to Mandi,” he added. The company has also awarded a few routes in the North East, including Sikkim.
While a lot of new players are coming into the small aircraft industry, which is good for the industry and the country, Mathur said that the penetration of small aircraft is so low for a country of India’s size compared to many other geographies of the world. There are only 250 registered civil helicopters in the country, and out of which just over a 100 are in commercial use. “The city of Sao Paulo in Brazil has between 700 and 800 helicopters. A country like New Zealand has more than 2000 helicopters,” he said.
However, procurement of helicopters is also cumbersome. He said that Financing helicopters is a big challenge as financial institutions do not consider these machines collaterals. After the Ukraine-Russian war started the supply chain of spare parts and other equipment also became a big issue with maintenance costs going up many fold, he informed.
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