Bengaluru airport to offer chopper taxi service at cost of luxury cab
The Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) would soon offer a helicopter shuttle service (HeliTaxi) between the city and airport at the cost of a luxury cab fare, said an official on Friday.
The airport at Devanahalli is about 40 km from the city centre, and 60-70 km away from the Electronic City in south and the IT corridors in southeast and southwest, home to hundreds of technology firms, including Infosys, Wipro and multinationals.
A 5-7 seat luxury cab fare is ₹3,000-4,000 between the airport and the city’s far end.
“The aerial service will ferry air passengers to and from the airport to the city faster than private cars, cabs or buses can through dense vehicular traffic on both ways,” BIAL Managing Director Harsha Raghavan told reporters here.
The operator has tied up with leading helicopter service provider Thumby Aviation Ltd to ferry passengers between the airport and the city in the choppers on demand.
“We will seek regulatory approvals to offer soon an integrated transfer service between the airport and the city as part of our passenger-friendly initiatives,” said Raghavan.
“The new service will be convenient for executives with faster access to the thriving city, expanding and extending allaround in view of its rapid economic development,” said Thumby Chairman Group Captain KNG Nair at a pre-launch event here.
Union minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha, who announced the launch of the s service, said the HeliTaxi service would ensure quick transfers to and from airports at a cost similar to a luxury taxi fare.
A video clip claiming to contain visuals of income tax raids on a Karnataka minister has turned out to be fake, highlighting once again the challenge traditional and social media outlets are facing in the age of manufactured news.
The video shared on Twitter by the handle @DurgaMenon is “that of an Income Tax raid on T&T law firm in Delhi founded by Rohit Tandon”, media outlet AltNews pointed out in a report.
The Income Tax department raided on Wednesday 64 places in Delhi and Karnataka linked to energy minister DK Shivakumar, investigating the politician’s alleged tax evasion and dodgy investments in real estate.
Shivakumar was hosting a group of Congress legislators from Gujarat to avoid a break in their ranks ahead of a close Rajya Sabha election.
The video that was shared with the caption, “DK Shivkumar’s home with just one Locker room opened..Congis whr will u hide ur faces??? @INCIndia @OfficeOfRG”, has been retweeted 377 times. @DurgaMenon’s Twitter account is followed by PM Narendra Modi and power minister Piyush Goyal, among other senior BJP leaders.
The 40-second video that @DurgaMenon claims to have received on WhatsApp is in fact about a Delhi Police operation against T&T law firm in Greater Kailash.