While devotees heading to the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala this season can expect traffic snarls en route, the more elite among them will have access to its base camp in a half-an-hour ride from Kochi.
According to officials with the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), choppers carrying devotees will be buzzing in and out of the helipad at Nilakkal throughout the season, which begins on November 16. The to-and-fro air ride, which will begin from the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL), is priced at ₹35,000 per head.
The package also covers ground transportation of the flyers from Nilakkal to Pampa, a distance of about 30 kilometers.
Confirming the development, TDB president K. Ananthagopan said a private operator had been accorded permission to use the helipad at Nilakkal for facilitating the pilgrimage. “The permission is for this season alone and the board will get ₹20,000 for each landing,” he said.
The move, which forms part of a plan by the board to leverage the idle property in its possession and generate sustainable income, comes as its earlier plan to lease out the helipad to any operator for three years failed to take off.
The chopper services to Sabarimala, according to him, is of particular utility to the high-profile personalities from other States. “Be it corporates or film stars, the number of well-heeled devotees to Sabarimala are increasing with each season,” he added.
Official sources said the board was also counting on the service, which would cut down the travel time by several hours, would also help draw more high-profile devotees to the hill shrine. The arrival of such personalities, will also help draw more sponsorships as was evident during the visits of Dr. Krishna Ella and B. Parthasarathy Reddy, chairman of the Bharat Biotech International Limited and Hetero Group of companies last year.
Earlier attempts by various private players to run heli-taxi services connecting Kochi and Nilakkal had to be abandoned for lack of adequate demand.
