Helicopter joy rides in Amaravati soon

Guntur: The Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) with an aim to boost tourism in state capital Amaravati is planning to operate helicopters for joy rides with the cooperation of private operators.

The helicopter rides will be conducted on Saturdays, Sundays and other holidays on a pilot project basis. If they get good response, they will operate more joy rides on other days. Higher officials in the APTDC said that they will start joy trips within a month. 

Helicopters services will be operated from Vijayawada to Amaravati. For 10 minutes helicopter ride, they are planning to collect Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 per ticket. They already discussed the proposal with the Krishna district administration.

The APTDC operated helicopter for a joy ride  during the Machilipatnam Beach Festival for three days. For eight-minutes, they charged Rs 2,000 and they got good response. Unable to engage more helicopters, they refunded the fare to some of the tourists.  

For Krishna Pushkarams, helicopters were operated from Vijayawada to Amaravati to promote heli-tourism. The private operators got good demand for helicopters.

Similarly, if they operate helicopters from Vijayawada to Amaravati for 10 minutes, it will boost tourism in the capital region. Actually, the APTDC proposed to operate helicopters up to Nagarjuna Konda, but the fare will be more and it will not be viable for operators, it is felt.

The Telangana-state is already operating helicopter joy rides in Hyderabad city covering Birla Mandir, Hi-tech City, Assembly building, Buddha statue, Charminar and other places. 

The APTDC is planning similar trips.  After Amaravati became the state capital, more tourists are visiting Amaravati. Generally, tourists, who visit Vijayawada, will see Kanaka Durga temple, Krishna river, temporary secretariat, Undavalli caves, old Amaravati and Dhyana Buddha project.

Sources in the APTDC said that during the holidays, tourists will visit these places. Taking this into consideration, the APTDC officials plan to send a detailed report to the government.