Kochi:
In a bid to woo high end tourists,the Rs 5,000 crore Joy Alukkas group will launch itshelicopter tour of Kochi, known as the Queen of the Arabiansea.
A six-seater Bell helicopter will offer tourists anhour-long aerial tours of Kochi, the group Chairman JoyAlukkas said.
There are plans to extend the service to Kozhikode andThiruvananthapuram also, he said.
Officials of 'Joy Jet', the firm's aviation wing, saidthe helicopter service would also be utilised for emergencyoperations.
The group will invest Rs 100 crore by next year toprovide exclusive air charter services to various destinationsacross India and abroad, Alukkas said, adding that about Rs 45crore has already been invested on Joy Jets.
Joy Jets, which presently has one jet and a helicopter,has plans to acquire four new jets. There are plans to launcha long-range flight by this December and an eight-passengerplane, which would cover 2000 nautical miles, would be addedto its fleet, he said.
The air charter service - which covered the southernstates, Maharashtra and Colombo - was introduced last year.Joy Jets will initially operate a short range directservice to various destinations across India from KochiInternational airport. It would procure long range aircraft tooffer trips to distant and international destinations. Thereare plans to procure such aircraft within six months to expandits service, the officials said.