New Helicopter Charter @ JFK

[Jonesbeach]

I'm not positive of all the details, but I've been hearing they are starting a new helicopter charter at JFK called US Helicopter. I believe its going to start at the heliport in Manhattan and then fly you to the new AA Terminal 9. There is a big H painted on the east side of Concourse C, between Concourse C and the Main Terminal. I have a picture of the S-76 parked there, but I can't upload it right now, maybe when I get home. I just seems like a peculiar place to setup a charter service. US Helicopter has been on the terminal signs at Terminal 9 for at least a year, but I'm just now hearing these plans. A Google search for US Helicopter turned up nothing. Just thought you guys might like to know. Here's a pic I got on Friday. Sorry for the lack of quality.



Jones Beach

[Matt Molnar]

http://www.flyush.com

Will begin Wall Street Heliport - JFK service in March, 34th St Heliport - JFK service in April. $139 intro fare.

Nothing about this on their site, but according to this Fairfield Citizen article, they want to connect Sikorsky Airport in CT to Wall St:

Article Last Updated: Friday, December 30, 2005 - 5:04:23 PM EST

Highway in the Air

By Jessica Wakeman [email protected]

Need to be in the boardroom on Wall Street pronto? Soon you'll be able to get there in 17 minutes flat - but it'll cost you $175 each way. US Helicopter, a new air commuter service, can transport up to nine area businessmen at a time from Sikorsky Airport to the Wall Street heliport, located at Pier Six on the East River. The helicopters now being painted - will be up and hovering in February at the price of $175 per person per flight. Reservations are likely to begin in January.

For many who work in Manhattan, Fairfield and surrounding towns are perfect "bedroom communities." Perfect ex-cept for the morning and evening commutes: lack of parking for the Metro North train ride or Mr. Toad's Wild Ride of Interstate 95. But the average commuter will not fly to work in the air, said Fairfield resident John Capozzi, a company investor and member of its board of directors. Rather, US Helicopter will serve "high senior executives who have a time problem," he explained.

The service is intended to be an alternative for the type of businessman "who takes a black car" into Manhattan, said Donal McSullivan, senior vice president and chief marketing officer. Capozzi, who owns a limousine company, said clients pay about $200 each way for a two-hour-20-minute ride into Manhattan. "Literally hundreds of executives take limos every day," said Capozzi. Trading fender benders for airsickness, the execs can reduce their commute to less than 20 minutes.

"What we do is give people back their time," McSullivan explained, adding that a 17-minute-long daily helicopter ride with eight other execs is a "fabulous networking situation." The commute via helicopter will be long enough to drink a coffee or read The Wall Street Journal, he said. In groups of nine, passengers can fly into Manhattan and back on a two-engine helicopter flown by two pilots. Equipped with GPS, the Sikorsky S76 helicopters will commute Monday through Friday, morning and night. The company has a fleet of helicopters, and the number of possible flights will depend on how many people are interested in the service, said Capozzi.

But the seats are not up for grabs on a day-to-day basis, said McSullivan. Rather, the company is hoping clients will purchase a seat in the helicopter for a duration of time. When asked how the gas mileage of helicopters versus town cars compared, Capozzi said he did not know. "We're not selling gas savings," he said. What the people at US Helicopter are selling is what they believe to be the first helicopter commute from Fairfield County to Manhattan, said McSullivan.

Additionally, US Helicopter will provide eight-minute-long flights from the Wall Street heliport to area airports, with an introductory price of $139 each way. Helicopters will leave hourly between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. from Manhattan to the airports. Beginning in February, the aircraft will fly to John F. Kennedy International Airport; by April, service will be extended to LaGuardia International Airport. Also in April, the East 34th Street heliport will become part of the service network. The company has partnered with American Airlines, acquiring use of its terminals at JFK. The security clearances will be another perk, said Capozzi.

"The big news is we will clear security at the airport," he said. Instead of heading into the terminal to join a line with the other flight passengers for security, the Transportation Safety Administration will perform security checks for the Sikorsky S76 passengers after they disembark the helicopter. Though the commute from Fairfield County to Manhattan is a new idea, companies in the past tried Manhattan-to-airport helicopter commutes before, Capozzi and McSullivan said. In the 1970s and early 1980s, airlines Pan Am and New York Airways attempted Manhattan-to-airport commutes.

But those helicopter services failed because the aircraft needed more maintenance than is required today and customers did not take to the service, said McSullivan. But now, "the market size has increased by threefold," said McSullivan, adding that US Helicopter performed prior market research. That research also indicated that speedy helicopter commutes from Manhattan to the Hamptons, Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard might be a possibility in the summertime, he said. "We have used the mistakes of others and have been very careful," said McSullivan.

With investors, Capozzi and McSullivan put $16 million into the venture in the five years that the two men have been ironing out the details. They secured former Sikorsky chairman and former Fairfield resident Dean Borgman as chairman of US Helicopter, and Jerry Murphy, former head of Pan Am Shuttle, will be the chief executive officer. Helicopters are safe for travel, said both men. The Sikorsky S76 aircrafts are "the same helicopters the Coast Guard flies into hurricanes," Capozzi said.

For more information, visit http://www.flyush.com.

[Tom_Turner]

[quote]www.flyush.com

By Jessica Wakeman [email protected]


<<The company has partnered with American Airlines, acquiring use of its terminals at JFK. The security clearances will be another perk, said Capozzi.

"The big news is we will clear security at the airport," he said. Instead of heading into the terminal to join a line with the other flight passengers for security, the Transportation Safety Administration will perform security checks for the Sikorsky S76 passengers after they disembark the helicopter.>>

The passengers are pre-cleared for terminals other than AA?


<< Though the commute from Fairfield County to Manhattan is a new idea, companies in the past tried Manhattan-to-airport helicopter commutes before, Capozzi and McSullivan said. In the 1970s and early 1980s, airlines Pan Am and New York Airways attempted Manhattan-to-airport commutes.

But those helicopter services failed because the aircraft needed more maintenance than is required today and customers did not take to the service, said McSullivan. >>

Well, it took New York Airways about 30 years to fail - accompanied by a catastophic accident. I think customers used the service.... :roll:


<<The Sikorsky S76 aircrafts are "the same helicopters the Coast Guard flies into hurricanes," Capozzi said.>>

USCG use the S76 to fly into hurricanes? I am thinking this is not true, but prepared to be corrected.

Well, it should be interesting an venture. I think they may do well.

Tom

[lijk604]

I know one of the pilots, he brought one of the 76's by our office the other day. All above is true. The Wall Street Heliport is redesigning their lobby just for this service. They will have a TSA checkpoint there so they can land at the AA Terminal at JFK. The plan is to start Wall St - JFK - Wall St. Then expand to LGA, Probably EWR, and yes eventually, Sikorsky Airport.

The helo's have a nice paint scheme and are outfitted with all leather seats inside. Should be an interesting venture.

[Matt Molnar]

From yesterday's Times:

Manhattan to J.F.K., Well Above the Traffic
By PATRICK McGEEHAN
Published: March 28, 2006
After a two-decade absence, helicopter shuttles between Manhattan and Kennedy International Airport resumed yesterday with a critical assist from the federal government.

At 7 a.m., U.S. Helicopter, a start-up company, whisked its first passengers from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport, over Brooklyn, Queens and the security lines at Kennedy, to the American Airlines terminal. The hourly flights, which last less than 10 minutes, cost $139 each way.

Included in that price is the luxury of avoiding the long security screening lines at the airport. At the request of U.S. Helicopter's executives, the federal Transportation Security Administration set up a checkpoint, with X-ray and bomb-detection machines, to screen passengers and their luggage at the heliport.

The security agency is spending $560,000 this year to operate the checkpoint with a staff of eight screeners and is considering adding a checkpoint at the heliport at the east end of 34th Street. The agency's involvement has drawn criticism from some elected officials.

"The bottom line here is that there are not enough screeners to go around," said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York. "The fact that we are taking screeners that are needed at airports to satisfy a luxury market on the government's dime is a problem."

Congress has placed a limit on how many screeners the security agency can employ, and last summer, the agency said it would reduce the number of screeners at Kennedy, La Guardia and Newark airports.

But Charles A. Gargano, vice chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the Wall Street heliport, on Pier 6 in the East River, called the resumption of the service a boon for the downtown economy.

"This is much more than just to have something nice," Mr. Gargano said. "It is an essential element to rebuilding Lower Manhattan."

Douglas Hofsass, the federal security director at La Guardia Airport, said the screeners at the heliport came from La Guardia, but the security agency bought new machines to screen passengers and their bags. He said he was hiring new screeners to replace the old ones at La Guardia.

"Our mission is to make the airport commute easier," said Jerry G. Murphy, the chief executive of U.S. Helicopter. He said the company expects its fleet of eight-passenger Sikorsky S-76 helicopters to carry as many as 150,000 passengers to and from local airports a year.

Most of those passengers are expected to be investment bankers and other business travelers who want to save time and avoid the hassles of the normal trek to the airport.

Airport helicopter service had its heyday in the 1970's, and eventually stopped operating after five people died when a spinning rotor broke off a New York Airways helicopter on a helipad atop the Pan Am Building.

After sampling the shuttle yesterday, Mikael Audebert, a travel agent from Orlando, Fla., said he would recommend it to his affluent clients.

Mr. Audebert grinned as the 2:35 p.m. flight rose off the tarmac at Kennedy before dipping its nose and making a beeline toward the Statue of Liberty. Within a minute, the helicopter was cruising, with only a slight chop, about 1,000 feet above the traffic on the Belt Parkway and Mr. Audebert was taking pictures.

"Every time we come to New York, it's just a nightmare," he said. "We use a limo that costs $115 and it stinks. The driver is not nice." But, he added, as he gestured around the compact, leather-padded cabin, "This is amazing."

Bobby Weiss, a self-employed stock trader and real estate broker who was U.S. Helicopter's first paying customer yesterday, said he would pay $300 for a round trip to Kennedy, and he expected most corporate executives would, too.

"It's $300, but so what? It goes on the expense account," said Mr. Weiss, adding that he had no qualms about the diversion of federal resources to smooth the path of highfliers. "Maybe a richer guy may save a little time at the expense of a poorer guy who spends a little more time in line."