Traffic Choked Megacities, Look To The Sky

Will India’s new-found love for flying spill over to app based heli-taxi services?

What if you can call a helicopter just as easily as a taxi with the help of an app? From New York to Jakarta, app-based chopper hailing services have taken off to help commuters beat the traffic congestion in the megacities of the world.

Private helicopter charters have been available for decades – at a price and heli-taxis as a concept isn’t something new. They have existed from the 1950s in the US. But their being linked to apps, say experts and users, is like a milestone towards the future. The good news is that the latest services are cheaper and more accessible to the public, allowing anyone with a smartphone and a credit card to order a ride with relative ease.

Today, circumventing road traffic by flying over it has already been successfully implemented in Brazil and Indonesia, though it is a relatively new concept in India, which currently has just about 284 helicopters being used in civil aviation.