Jyotiraditya M Scindia, Minister for Civil Aviation and Steel, Govt of India has announced 3 new projects for enhancing the helicopter sector in the country which includes Project Akash, Helicopter medical emergency services (HEMS) and fractional ownership.

The Minister launched new Helicopter Emergency Medical Services under project ‘Sanjeevani’ and the service will start at AIIMS, Rishikesh. “Through the learnings from project ‘Sanjeevani’, we will put in place a National Helicopter Medical Emergency plan in the days to come,” he added.

Addressing the ‘4^th Heli-India Summit 2022 – Helicopters for Last Mile Connectivity’, organized by FICCI, jointly with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Govt of India and Govt of J&K, Scindia said that the government intends to expand medical outreach and access to trauma care services to a wider population across the country using helicopters.

Helicopters, he said, have multifarious role by providing urban connectivity and the government has started providing helicopter connectivity between airports and cities at economical rates. Helicopters also have important role in providing medical services along with disaster management. In last one year, the government has introduced ‘Heli Sewa’ portal for providing all permissions to operators there by providing Ease of Doing Business. "We also have introduced Heli-Disha to set up more helipads, one helipad in one district. The government has also removed all landing and parking charges for helicopters to boost the sector,” he added.