B Ravi Pillai, chairman of RP Group of companies, became the first Indian to own the Airbus H145 helicopter. The helicopter got delivered to its new owner in Kovalam.
It is worth around Rs 100 crore. As per the reports, the helicopter took its first from Kovalam to The Raviz Ashtamudi with the 68-year-old billionaire onboard. It is to be noted that B Ravi Pillai is worth $2.5 billion and employs about 70,000 people in his company.
The helicopter he bought is not only the first Airbus helicopter in India, but it also holds the title of being the first five-bladed H145 helicopter in the Asian continent.
The addition of the new helicopter is supposed to increase tourism and will also be used by his guests to travel to the tourist destinations.
The new helicopter can seat eight passengers in its standard configuration and is operated by one or two pilots. The new machine is capable of landing and taking off from even the height of 20,000 feet above sea level. It is to be noted that the new helicopter comes with the latest safety features.
The helicopter is a small-sized machine, as per the company, it gets a small footprint and flexible cabin making it ideal for multiple purposes. The H145 is the most recent addition to Airbus' four-tonne-class twin-engine rotorcraft lineup.
The H145 family of helicopters include BK117, EC145 and the H145; it has close to 1,500 helicopters in service worldwide and has clocked more than six million flight hours.