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."
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