Pawan Hans Limited is a government-owned-helicopter service provider based at Noida in Delhi NCR, India.It is under the ownership of Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. It has cumulatively flown more than 1 million hours and has had 2.5 million landings on its fleet since its formation. The headquarter is located at Sector-1 in Noida with regional office at Delhi and the operations are based at the Juhu Aerodrome in Vile Parle (West), Mumbai.
Other than providing helicopter services to Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to its off-shore locations, this government-owned-helicopter service provider is often engaged in providing services to various state governments in India, particularly in North-east India, Inter-island ferry services in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and for the last 26 years service to Lakshadweep Administration in ferrying people from Islands to Cochin International Airport and inter-island services. These are considered as the backbone of Lakshadweep and Minicoy Islands which are far-flung from Indian shores extending up to 400–500 km into the Arabian Sea, Vaishno Devi Helicopter service for devotees. Service to BSF and Maharashtra Police for Medical and Logistics support in event of Maoist attack on troops.
History
Pawan Hans Limited was incorporated on 15 October 1985 as the Helicopter Corporation of India (HCI), the country’s one and only government-owned-helicopter service provider with the objective of providing helicopter support services to the oil sector for its off-shore exploration operations, services in remote areas and charter services for promotion of tourism. It is a government-owned-helicopter service provider with 78.5% ownership by the union government & 21.5% with ONGC. ONGC has upped its stake to 49% recently, a move that will see the equity base of PHL being enhanced to ₹245 crores from the existing ₹113 crores.
The government-owned-helicopter service provider has a net worth of ₹3,701.5 crores and paid-up equity share capital is ₹245.61 crores. Pawan Hans is “Approved Maintenance Centre of Eurocopter” and also the first ISO 9001: 2000 certified aviation company in India. On 12 January 2017, the Government of India approved the privatization of Pawan Hans.
Services
Pawan Hans offers helicopter services for:
- Off-Shore operations
- Inter-island transportation
- Connecting inaccessible areas
- Heli-Pilgrimage Tourism
- Training & Skill Development
- Customs and pipeline surveillance
- Casualty and rescue work
- Charter services
- Joy Rides
- VIP transportation
- Film shooting and aerial photography
- Flower dropping and other
- Customised services.
- Heliport Services
- MRO Services
- HEMS
Destinations
Pawan Hans fly to various points in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh (U.T.) Tripura, Sikkim, Nagaland, Odisha, West Bengal, and also to MHA Guwahati in Assam. While Meghalaya state is suspended, it resumed its service on 26 July 2012. Mukul Sangma, the chief minister of Meghalaya, took a personal ride in the helicopter to check if it is resumable or not.
- Arunachal Pradesh
- Itanagar (Helicopter)
- Naharlagun (Helicopter)
- Tawang Town (Helicopter)
- Assam
- Guwahati – Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport
- Chandigarh
- Chandigarh Airport (Helicopter)
- Jammu and Kashmir
- Katra (Helicopter)
- Vaishno Devi Temple (Helicopter)
- Maharashtra
- Mumbai – Juhu Aerodrome (HUB) (Offshore operation)
- Mizoram
- Aizawl – Lunglei
- Aizawl – Kolasib
- Aizawl – Serchhip
- Aizawl – Champhai
- Aizawl – Khawzawl
- Aizawl – Lawngtlai
- Aizawl – Saiha
- Aizawl – Chawngte
- Aizawl – Mamit
- Meghalaya
- Shillong – Shillong Airport
- Tura (Helicopter)
- Odisha
- Bhubaneswar – Biju Patnaik International Airport
- Paradip (Helicopter)
- Jharsuguda
- Brahmapur
- Himachal Pradesh
- Shimla Airport (Helicopter)
- West Bengal
- Kolkata – Cooch Behar
- Durgapur – Asansol
- Durgapur – Haldia
- Siliguri – Darjeeling
- Kolkata – Siliguri
- Kolkata – Durgapur
- including Malda
Uttrakhand
- Dehradun – Phata- Shri Kedarnath – Phata – Dehradun (Sessional Charter Services)
- Phata- Shri Kedarnath – Phata (Sessional Passenger Services)
- Char Dham Yatra (Shri Kedarnath, Shri BadriNath, Gangotri and Yamnotri)
Fleet
The Pawan Hans fleet as of April 2019 includes:
| Model | Total |
|---|---|
| Dauphin SA-365N | 17 |
| Dauphin AS365N3 | 14 |
| Bell 206 L4 | 3 |
| Bell 407 | 3 |
| Mil Mi-172 | 3 |
| AS 350 B3 | 2 |
It also operates & maintains 6 HAL Dhruv helicopters belonging to Border Security Force and Hindustan Aeronautics
Heliports
- Rohini Heliport (Delhi)
Jal Hans
Pawan Hans jointly owns Jal Hans, India’s first amphibious aircraft service with the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Administration.
Accidents and incidents
On 13 January 2018, a helicopter with ONGC staff on board crashes in Mumbai, all bodies includes 5 ONGC officers and 2 pilots recovered. In 2011, PHHLs operations in the North Eastern States of India came under serious public criticism due to safety issues. After the crash that killed the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Dorjee Khandu and five others, it operations in the North East region were suspended and DGCA was asked to conduct safety audit of the company. The operations were resumed in January 2013. But yet another accident took place on 4 August 2015 killing 3 people on board, including an IAS officer.
- 22 Sep 2004: Meghalaya Community and Rural Development Minister Cyprian Sangma, two MLAs and a former Deputy Speaker were killed when a Pawan Hans helicopter A 365N crashed near Shillong.
- 06 Aug 2010: a Pawan Hans crew member fell 10,000 feet (3,000 m) to his death at Namsai in Arunachal Pradesh, while trying to close a door of that had flung open during a flight.
- 16 Dec 2010: a Pawan Hans Dauphin 365 N3 helicopter crashed at Chandigarh Airport, leaving the pilots injured.
- 19 Apr 2011: a Pawan Hans Mil Mi-17 on a flight from Guwahati to Tawang, crashed in a gorge and caught fire while trying to land near Tawang. Out of 23 people on board, 17 were killed.
- 29 Apr 2011: a Pawan Hans AS350 B-3 helicopter carrying Dorjee Khandu, the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, and four other people, went missing. It was traced four days later near Lobthang. All 5 people were found dead.
- 04 Aug 2015: a Pawan Hans Dauphin N3 twin-engined aircraft carrying Tirap Deputy Commissioner Kamlesh Kumar Joshi, a 2010 batch IAS officer, and pilots M S Brar and Rajeev Hoskote crashed killing all its occupants.
- 04 Nov 2015: Pawan Hans Helicopter (Aerospatiale Dauphin) employed in offshore oil platform service crashed into the Arabian Sea off the coast of Mumbai. The Helicopter was on night flying practice when the incident happened and was occupied by two pilots only, no passengers were present. Both the pilots perished in the incident.
- 13 Jan 2018: Pawan Hans Helicopter crashed into the Arabian Sea Off the coast of Mumbai while ferrying seven people including ONGC personnel. The bodies of the seven people, including 5 senior ONGC officers, debris from the aircraft was located.