Earlier this week, KNG Nair launched India’s first such service, in Bengaluru.
KNG Nair’s new product had its litmus test on the very first day.
He got a call at 10.30 am on Monday, March 5. It was from a couple who had to check-in by 12 pm for a 1 pm flight from Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport. “But we are running late and won’t be able to reach on time. Could you please help,” the husband asked.
Nair's Thumby Aviation had just launched the country’s first heli-taxi service earlier in the day. He promised the couple he could help them.
At 11.45, the couple boarded Thumby Aviation’s helicopter from the Electronic City, and reached Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL) in 12 minutes. By road it would have taken them at least two hours. “From there, a vehicle took them to the departure gate in two-three minutes. They were on time to catch their flight,” says Nair, his delight evident over the phone as he spoke to Moneycontrol.
Nair’s Thumby Aviation will do sorties from Electronic City to the BIAL and back, in two different time slots during the day. The shuttle service will employ one helicopter, which can seat up to six passengers at a time.
“We can load up to 15 kg of luggage at a time in the helicopter. We are working out an arrangement where the check-in luggage will be picked up from the passengers two-three hours prior to the flight and will be delivered to them once they land,” said Nair.
Each ticket will cost about Rs 4,000. The shuttle will also soon connect the HAL airport in Bengaluru.
“In the second phase, we plan to operate from roof top helipads. There is one at ITC Gardenia. We will also connect to one more ground-based helipad, in Whitefield. The second phase should commence in six months,” says Nair, a former Indian Air Force fighter pilot.
The king
While the work on launching the heli-taxi service began more than three years ago, the idea first struck Nair when he was far away in the hills of Nagaland, in 2009.
By then Nair was well into his entrepreneurial journey. In 1998, he had taken retirement from Air Force, where he had built an experience of 13,500 flying hours over 23 years. After flying helicopters in the off-shore sector, Nair founded his first company to provide the same service. The company was bought over in 2004.
Same year, Nair founded his second company and named it King Rotors and Air Charter Pvt Ltd. “King because I was known as King Nair in the industry because of my initials, KNG,” he says.
Nair joined hands with another start-up called Heligo Charters to start services for VIPs, companies and off shore clients.
In 2009, they got license to start service in Nagaland. Later in 2013, Nair applied and got the license under his new enterprise Thumby Aviation. Thumby is dragonfly in Malayalam, Nair’s mother tongue.
Even as Nair catered to VIP charters, the hilly terrains of Nagaland sparked an idea. “All the districts in the state are on hills. And even a 300km-journey on road takes about 18 to 22 hours. I convinced the state government to start helicopter service for citizens for easier travel,” says Nair.
It helped that the passengers needed to give 35 per cent of the cost, and the rest was borne by the Centre, as per a special scheme for the North-East states.
The idea caught on, albeit slowly initially because of fears from the an earlier helicopter crash in the state. But by 2015, frequency of Nair's helicopter shuttle service had increased.
Now Nair was thinking beyond Nagaland, especially after losing the contract in the state when it came up for renewal.
“We wanted to make helicopter rides affordable. Till we launched the service in Bengaluru, one couldn’t book a seat in a helicopter. You had to book the whole copter,” says Nair.
He and his team researched and realized that Bengaluru was the best place to start a heli-taxi service. “Unlike a Mumbai, where the traffic at least keeps moving, in Bengaluru the vehicles come to a halt for 10-15 minutes at a time,” says Nair.
After getting clearance from the state government, and encouraged by Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, Nair got on to setting up the infrastructure. The BIAL allotted Thumby Aviation space within the airport campus, and at Electronic City, (ITI) Indian Telephone Industries gave Nair a piece of land. He set up helipads in both the places.
Finally on March 5, India’s first heli-taxi began its operations. Thumby Aviation has deployed one of its three helicopters in Bengaluru. “We want to develop the model and allow it to grow, and accordingly will expand,” says the 64-year-old entrepreneur. He plans to expand the fleet to six helicopters in two years.
The Thiruvananthapuram-based company also caters to private charters, for which the other two helicopters are used. “We are a zero-debt company, which has a paid up capital of Rs 5 crore. Me and my wife jointly have most of the shareholding, with a friend having a tiny stake,” says Nair.
After giving wings to his idea, the entrepreneur now also wants to re-start services in Nagaland.
