Helicopters offer 12-minute Morristown-Manhattan commute
MORRISTOWN – Starting May 21, Gotham Air helicopters will chop lots of time off the commutes of Morris County residents who work on Wall Street.
Tickets go on sale today for seats on the 12-minute flights, which will leave Morristown Airport at 8 a.m. Mondays through Fridays and touch down at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport on Pier 6. (See accompanying box.)
The daily trip home leaves Manhattan at 6:30 p.m.
"The choppers only have six seats, so we're encouraging people to buy a monthly pass," said Gotham Air CEO Tim Hayes.
Currently, three companies at Morristown Airport offer charter operations, according to Maria Sheridan, spokesperson. In those cases, though, a person or group must charter a whole aircraft.
"What's different about Gotham Air," she said, "is that it's a shared charter, which is a unique situation here at Morristown Airport."
Some 11,500 Morris County commuters work in Manhattan daily, according to TransOptions, a transportation nonprofit based in Cedar Knolls.
Statewide, the Gothamist weblog reports, some 400,000 employees commute from New Jersey to New York—more than travel between any other two states.
$145 per trip
Those who opt to commute by helicopter from Morristown will pay $145 per trip, if they purchase a $3,189 one-way monthly pass. At least that's the rate for June, a company spokesperson said. The cost is $6,379 for a round-trip monthly pass. Prices vary, depending on the number of days in a month.
The cost may sound expensive to some, Hayes said, but not to those who face 90-minute driving commutes, daily tolls, $50 parking fees, or even rent for a studio apartment in the city for overnight stays.
"A lot of executives get home at 7:30 at night. By that time, they've missed Little League. They've missed soccer. They've missed dinner with the family," said Hayes, a former Maplewood resident who moved to Manhattan to minimize the strain of train commutes on him and his family.
On May 21, Gotham Air also will start chopper service at Monmouth Executive Airport in Wall, from which the trip to the Downtown Manhattan Heliport takes 18 minutes and for which the cost is $3,899 for a one-way monthly pass in June. The cost is $7,799 for a round-trip monthly pass. That's $179 per trip.
While service to Morristown is being offered indefinitely, service to Wall is being offered through Labor Day weekend.
Commuters will fly on a new fleet of seven $3 million Bell 407 choppers, according to Hayes. Most of the company's 16 pilots have had military training. On average, each pilot has 10,000 hours of flight time.
"Safety is an incredible concern for us," he said. "It's in the forefront."
Comfort is important, too.
"These are executive-class, roomy helicopters. The seats are leather," Hayes explained. "The helicopters have a BOSE noise-canceling sound system inside and huge pictures windows. The walls are almost entirely glass, so it's a very pretty ride."
The luxury doesn't end at touchdown since Gotham Air headquarters, located at Pier 6 by the Downtown Manhattan Heliport, has its own private lounge for flying commuters.
Page from history
The idea of commuting in the skies, touted by some experts as evidence of economic recovery, is less an innovation and more a reprisal of a trend popular at Morristown Airport from the 1950s through the 1970s.
Back in the day, an old brochure shows, New York Airways offered stops, all day long. It flew helicopters from Wall Street to the roof of the Pan Am Building and then to what was then Newark International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), and Morristown Airport.
The service stopped shortly after a May 16, 1977 New York Airways Sikorsky helicopter accident atop the Pan Am building, according to media reports of the day. While passengers boarded, landing gear malfunctioned, causing the helicopter to roll to one side, killing five people and seriously injuring two.
In more recent years, helicopter shuttles have appeared from time to time in American cities. HubExpress, for instance, operated from Logan International Airport in Boston, to the city's suburbs, starting in 1986. It ceased operations in 1991, after a recession hit.
Genesis moment
In his professional life, Hayes has straddled two worlds and, with Gotham Air, sought to meld them.
At Premier Talent Agency, Hayes routed tours for major musical acts, and during a television career at "Good Morning America," "20/20" and ABC News, he booked helicopters for busy celebrity guests.
A year ago, he said, he was working with Duff McKagan from the band Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver and the taping was going behind schedule. That was the day he started thinking about the Gotham Air concept.
"We needed Duff McKagan another 45 minutes but he had to catch a flight," Hayes recalled. "We asked him if he could stay if we got him a helicopter. He said yes. So we booked him a helicopter. He picked it up at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport. Six minutes later, he was at Newark Liberty (International Airport). He was able to finish the project. He was able to make his flight."
Then Hayes got the bill—$2,200.
"It seemed like an awful lot of money for a six-minute flight," he said.
Short hop prices
At the same time, he realized that sightseeing helicopter rides of New York, which last as long as 12 minutes, cost $200 per ride.
"We asked ourselves, Is there a way we can use the operational procedures and economics of sightseeing for short hop travel?" Hayes said. "It turns out there is."
Inspired by the number of passengers that use Newark and JFK airports every year, Gotham Air started flying in January, offering $199-$219 flights from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport to both airports.
Two years ago, a total of 35 million passengers used Newark airport and 50 million used JFK, according to The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey 2013 Airport Traffic Report.
"The airport shuttles have been successful," he said. "We're very happy with those."
The daily commuter helicopter rides — as well as weekend, summertime trips from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport to Atlantic City — are the company's second innovation.
If the daily commuter flights from Morristown and Wall go as well as planned, Hayes said, Gotham Air intends to also offer service from Princeton Airport as well as Essex County Airport in Fairfield.
Lorraine Ash: 973-248-6660; lash@gannettnj.com
Learn more
Gotham Air will begin taking reservations on April 28 for its new commuter and summer travel helicopter flight destinations:
• MORRISTOWN AIRPORT
(Year-round commuter service to Downtown Manhattan Heliport)
Morristown to Wall Street: 8 a.m. departure, 8:12 a.m. arrival
Wall Street to Morristown: 6:30 p.m. departure, 6:42 p.m. arrival
$3,189 for June one-way monthly pass; $6,379 for June two-way monthly pass
Flight dates: Monday through Friday, starting May 21
Book at www.GothamAir.com or 646-405-7008
• MONMOUTH EXECUTIVE AIRPORT
(Summer-only commuter service to Downtown Manhattan Heliport)
Wall to Wall Street: 8 a.m. departure, 8:18 a.m. arrival
Wall Street to Wall: 6:15 p.m. departure, 6:33 p.m. arrival
$3,899 for June one-way monthly pass; $7,799 for June two-way monthly pass
Flight dates: Monday through Friday, starting May 21 through Labor Day weekend
Book at www.GothamAir.com or 646-405-7008
• ATLANTIC CITY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
(Summer-only commuter service to Downtown Manhattan Heliport)
Wall Street to Atlantic City: 5 p.m. departure, 5:45 p.m. arrival on Fridays
Atlantic City to Wall Street: 6:00 p.m. departure, 6:45 p.m. arrival on Sundays
$575 one way
Flight dates: Every Friday from Wall Street to Atlantic City and every Sunday from Atlantic City to Wall Street, starting Memorial Day through Labor Day Weekend
Book at www.GothamAir.com or 646-405-7008 or through Gotham Air app available in iTunes Store or Google Play