Faster Than Speeding Bullet: Choppers Airlift Travelers

<B>Faster Than Speeding Bullet: Choppers Airlift Travelers</B>

By Frank Rosci

New York City meets the transportation needs of business travelers in a variety of ways, including through the services of a number of companies that offer quick--but costly--charter helicopter flights from Manhattan's surrounding airports.

"Our corporate clients range from CEOs to sales people and, actually, can be any traveler who needs to get to and from the airport quickly before and after a meeting, for example, or just more conveniently," said Kathleen Wiig, office manager of Helicopter Flight Services in New York. "We fly business travelers from many different national and international companies and industries."

Several travel buyers, including Freya Gnerre, director of administration at SFX Entertainment Inc. in New York, agreed that helicopter services usually are reserved for company VIPs, and are used rather infrequently by most other employees unless there is no other travel alternative to keep an appointment or meet a tight schedule.

Helicopter Flight Services flies to and from New York JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airports, and to and from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, where a number of private planes land and take off, Wiig said. The one-way flat rate from these four airports to Manhattan is $595 per person. "The helicopter holds up to five passengers, and the trip takes about 20 minutes, including getting from the terminal to the helicopter using airport courtesy vans," said Wiig. The company's helicopters use the West 30th Street and East 34th Street Heliports, and the Downtown Manhattan Heliport at Pier 6.

In addition to its Manhattan flights, Helicopter Flight Services offers service to nearby cities from the New York area. If a business traveler has a meeting in Danbury, Conn., for example, the rate is $950 per hour, plus costs based on total flight time. If the pilot is asked to wait at the meeting location, there is a further charge of $100 per hour, Wiig said.

Another company that operates roundtrip flights from the metropolitan area's major airports to the city is Liberty Helicopters, based in Linden, N.J. "We fly about 100 passengers a month, many of whom are from Fortune 500 companies, to two locations in Manhattan, the VIP heliport at West 30th Street and the Downtown Manhattan Heliport," said Patrick Day, director of charter marketing.

Liberty's single-engine Astar helicopters hold up to six passengers, while its twin-engine Twinstars, which cruise at 140 mph, hold up to five. The company's 24-hour service is available seven days a week. "Service can be arranged on an average of 30-minutes notice," Day said. Flat rates to JFK, LaGuardia and Newark are $750 per person. Hourly rates to hire a helicopter and pilot are $1,200 for the Astar ($150 per hour waiting charge) and $1,400 for the Twinstar ($200 per hour waiting charge). A car or limousine can be arranged at the time a passenger makes a reservation, Day added.

T.D. Aviation Inc. of Farmingdale, N.Y., also offers roundtrip helicopter service to Manhattan from New York's major airports. "We transport business travelers, typically high-end executives because of the relatively high cost involved, but not strictly that kind of business passenger," said operations manager Mike McCormack. Flat rates for service aboard a three-passenger, single-engine helicopter are $550 per flight from JFK and $803 per flight from Newark. Rates aboard a twin-engine Twinstar helicopter are $1,083 per flight from JFK and LaGuardia, and $1,402 per flight from Newark.

Meanwhile, Air Pegasus, the fixed-base operator of the West 30th Street Heliport, offers charter services that average about $750 per flight for up to six passengers to and from New York's main airports, said Abigail Trenk, owner/president/manager of the heliport, and president of Air Pegasus. Hourly rates average about $1,000, plus flying time, Trenk said.

"Corporate clients from Fortune 500 companies comprise 50 percent of our business. In addition to flights to and from the airports, which take about 10 minutes, we fly between 250 and 300 business people a week to and from corporate headquarters outside the city into Manhattan," said Trenk.

The West 30th Street Heliport is the only one in the city that is open 24 hours every day, Trenk added, though the Downtown Manhattan Heliport is among the city's busiest. "The facility handles 20 to 100 helicopters daily, depending on the time of year," said Jay McGowan, manager of the heliport. "There are many more helicopters per day here when corporations hold their annual meetings all at the same time of the year, usually in May or June."

The 84,000-sq.-ft. Downtown Heliport offers regular and VIP waiting lounges, can park up to 12 helicopters and 18 cars and is fully accessible to street traffic, mostly taxis and limousines. The facility, which opened in 1960, closed in the early 1980s following a partial collapse of Pier 6. It was reconstructed with cement pilings and reopened in 1987 as one of four Federal Aviation Administration-designated demonstration projects to showcase the latest developments in equipment to enhance helicopter operations.