QUESTION
What is the rationale for allowing non-essential and tourism helicopter flights during the transition to electric helicopters?
1:20:13
·
112 sec
The council member asks about the economic rationale for including non-essential and tourism flights in the new RFP for helicopter operations, given noise and quality of life concerns.
- The NYC Economic Development Corporation explains that allowing some conventional tour flights maintains revenue to support incentives for faster electric helicopter adoption.
- Electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) technology is still new and perceived as risky for mandating fully electric operations immediately.
- A transition period with some traditional flights is needed from a revenue perspective to fund the shift to electric helicopters.
- The FAA is not expected to certify electric helicopters until around 2025.
Gale A. Brewer
1:20:13
What just so I understand, what is the purpose of having these tour flights.
1:20:17
What is it because you're afraid?
1:20:19
I know De Blasio used to tell me.
1:20:20
I tried with Bloomberg.
1:20:22
He had a helicopter, and he was a pilot.
1:20:24
So I gave up.
1:20:25
And then I tried I tried with De Blasio, and he told me that if we didn't have them in New York, meaning tourism and nonessential, everybody would go to New Jersey.
1:20:34
They're already in New Jersey.
1:20:35
So we have to work on the federal to get rid of New Jersey.
1:20:38
But it does seem to mean that we shouldn't be I don't understand the economic model, particularly if you have a new RFP that is giving you the kind of income you want.
1:20:48
Why you have to include the tourism and the non essential.
1:20:51
What is the economic input for that?
Jennifer Sun
1:20:53
So a rationale from an economic perspective is that as a cited as we are about EV toll technology.
1:21:01
It is still relatively new, and so it might be perceived as risky if we were to require EV toll only out of these operations.
1:21:12
And so recognizing that there need might need to be a transition from conventional helicopters to fully electric helicopters, maintaining some amount of tour flights, for example, allows that transition from a revenue perspective, meaning you maintain some revenue from traditional helicopters to then support incentives that then encourage the faster adoption of ev drugs.
Gale A. Brewer
1:21:37
You're you're just making New Yorkers crazy with this.
1:21:39
And and it's not everybody.
1:21:41
But and so I'm just suggesting that you really reconsider the tourism nonessential if there's a even if there's a period that you have to, would fossil fuel still being the main attraction or the main driver?
1:21:56
And I'm not even clear with the electric if they're completely quiet.
1:21:59
It seemed like they were, but I am not convinced.
1:22:02
Please reconsider this.
1:22:04
Thank you.