Chopper services to 2 more remote Indian Islands

Port Blair, July 6: The Department of Civil Aviation of Andaman and Nicobar Administration has decided to extend the Pawan Hans helicopter services to two more remote Indian islands of the far flung archipelago.

These two islands are Chowra and Neil Islands.

''We have also increased the number of flights to Car Nicobar, Teressa, Katchal and Kamorta, which are far away from Port Blair,'' Lalta Prasad, Assistant Secretary of Andaman's Civil Aviation department told the sources today.

As per the new schedule, there would be regular helicopter services to Chowra on Thursdays and for Neil Island on every Monday.

Besides, helicopter would operate every Monday for Mayabunder and Diglipur; for Havelock every Monday and Saturday; for Campbell Bay every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday; and for Hut Bay every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

Similarly, for Kamorta, the service would be on every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. For Teressa it would operate every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, while for Katchal it would be every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. For Car Nicobar, there will be ten flights in a week from Monday to Saturday.

The new schedule will be effective from July 9, 2007 onwards, Prasad added.

However, officials made it clear that no tourists could avail the helicopter service for Tribal Reserve Islands of Nicobar District without obtaining a tribal pass.

However for islands like Neil, Havelock and other islands of North, Middle and South Andaman anyone can get a ticket, officials said.

Meanwhile, the Andaman and Nicobar Administration is also trying to get two more helicopters for better connectivity between the far flung scattered islands. 36 out of 572 islands of the remote Indian territory are inhabited and not all of them are connected with helicopters. Inter-island shipping is the main lifeline of these islands.

UNI