Taj Exotica Gets Helicopter Connectivity From Mopa Airport Of Goa

The company will operate from the airport to the hotel twice a day. The helicopter on this route will currently be able to seat four passengers at a fare of ₹6000 per person. The company said that each passenger can carry up to 7 kg of luggage on the helicopter. 

The first return journey from the hotel will be between 11am and 12pm whereas the second return journey will be between 12:30pm and 1:30pm. The company will offer the helicopter service six days a week. 

The air mobility service will also expand its network in North Goa with Fort Aguada as the next location, the company said. 

As the new airport of Goa has ample parking, landing slots available for charter flights unlike the Dabolim airport which has restriction on account of being a naval air base, Blade aims to offer personalized charter service to connect destinations within Goa and neighboring towns such as Dhardwad and Hubli. 

The new airport at Mopa in Goa was inaugurated by PM Modi in December 2022. The airport commenced operations on 5 January, 2023. 

With the opening of Mopa, industry experts anticipate an influx of charter and scheduled flight operations as the old airport at Dabolim is located at the Indian naval station INS Hansa. The civil enclave at the naval air base currently faces capacity constraints due to limited slots and congestion at the terminal. The airport at Dabolim is also unavailable for civilian flights for five hours every day. 

Under phase one, the GMR Group-run Mopa airport will be able to handle 4.4 million passengers every year and the saturation capacity for the airport after full development has been pegged at 33 million passengers per year. The state-run civil enclave of Dabolim airport handled 8.4 million passengers in 2019-20, as per data from Airports Authority of India 

“With travelers wanting to make the most of their time in the state, we foresee a huge demand for services such as ours that reduce travel time significantly. People can land in North Goa and check in to their hotels in south Goa all within 20 minutes, a route which otherwise takes up to 3 hours," Mr. Amit Dutta, Managing Director, BLADE India said. 

FlyBlade India or Blade India is a joint venture between Hunch Ventures and Blade Urban Air Mobility, Inc. It started operations in November 2019 with its maiden flights in Maharashtra between Mumbai, Pune and Shirdi. It has also expanded to Coorg, Hampi, and Kabini in Karnataka and Goa. The company also offers bed-to-bed air medevac service BLADE Care and a personalized charter service called BLADE Anywhere.