Downtown Manhattan Heliport
Downtown Manhattan Heliport | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Owner | NYCEDC | ||||||||||
| Operator | Saker Aviation Services | ||||||||||
| Serves | New York City | ||||||||||
| Opened | December 8, 1960 | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 7 ft / 2 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 40°42′04″N 74°00′32″W / 40.701116°N 74.008801°W | ||||||||||
| Website | downtownmanhattanheliport | ||||||||||
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| Helipads | |||||||||||
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| Statistics (2003) | |||||||||||
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The Downtown Manhattan Heliport (IATA: JRB, ICAO: KJRB, FAA LID: JRB) (Downtown Manhattan/Wall St. Heliport) is a helicopter landing platform at Pier 6, on the East River, in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City.
History
[edit]In the mid-1950s, the Port of New York Authority (PA) prepared a transportation master plan that proposed the development of six new heliports in the metropolitan area, including one at the southern tip of Manhattan near The Battery or Wall Street.[3][4][5] The PA opened the West 30th Street Heliport in 1956 (one of the locations identified in the master plan) and New York Airways began operating helicopter shuttle service between that heliport and area airports, but passenger demand was much lower than projected and thought to be a result of competition by other forms of ground transportation. It was believed that a helicopter landing pad in Lower Manhattan would attract more passenger demand, which led to the PA to study the feasibility of a new heliport.[4][5] The Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association also recommended the establishment of a heliport as part of the redevelopment of old piers on the East River and the New York City Marine and Aviation Department allocated space along the waterfront to the development of a heliport by the PA.[4][6][7]
Plans for the new heliport and a 37-year lease of the site to the PA were approved by the New York City Board of Estimate on May 27, 1960.[8] Built by the PA at a cost of $230,000, the original facility included a 80-by-85-foot (24 by 26 m) helicopter landing pad, a 300-by-85-foot (91 by 26 m) parking and loading area for helicopters, a one-story terminal building, and parking lot for autos. The Downtown Manhattan Heliport opened on December 8, 1960.[5][9] In the 1960s and 1970s New York Airways helicopters flew from the heliport to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), LaGuardia Airport (LGA) and John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK); scheduled flights ended in the mid-1980s. In 2006 US Helicopter resumed scheduled passenger service with hourly flights to JFK until November 2009 when it ceased all service.
Much of the heliport's traffic is generated by Wall Street and the lower Manhattan financial district; top business executives and time-sensitive document deliveries often use the heliport. The heliport is the normal landing spot for the President of the United States on visits to New York. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg frequently used the heliport to fly between Bloomberg L.P. headquarters and Johns Hopkins University when he was chairman of both institutions.
The Downtown Manhattan Heliport is a public heliport operated by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) with charter service to Newark Liberty International Airport, Teterboro Airport, Morristown Municipal Airport, and other New York–area airports. Public sightseeing and VIP flights are also common.
Facilities
[edit]The heliport covers 2 acres (0.81 ha) at an elevation of 7 feet (2.1 m). It has one helipad, H1, 62 ft × 62 ft (19 m × 19 m) concrete. In the year ending December 30, 2003, the airport had 10,002 aircraft operations, an average of 27 per day: 90% general aviation and 10% military.[1]
The New York City Economic Development Corporation estimates over 56,000 sightseeing helicopter trips in 2014 operated from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport. This excludes helicopters used by the police and hospitals, or even private business and leisure charters. In 2014, nontourist flights accounted for 1,936 of the 58,021 flights from the downtown heliport.[10]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- Notes
- ^ a b FAA Airport Form 5010 for JRB PDF, effective 2008-04-10
- ^ Downtown Manhattan Heliport, official web site
- ^ Witkin, Richard (April 25, 1956). "Port Agency Urges Six Heliports In 'Master Plan' for Area Travel". The New York Times. Retrieved 2024-11-02.
- ^ a b c Witkin, Richard (March 3, 1959). "Helicopter Service Due for Wall Street". The New York Times. Retrieved 2024-11-02.
- ^ a b c Peisen, Deborah J.; Lobosco, Roy (September 1991). "New York Downtown Manhattan (Wall Street) Heliport – Operations Analysis" (PDF). Federal Aviation Administration. p. 9. Retrieved 2024-11-02.
- ^ Grutzner, Charles (October 15, 1958). "Plan To Rebuild Downtown Area Outlined To City". The New York Times. Retrieved 2024-11-02.
- ^ "Text of Recommendations for Rebuilding 564-Acre District of Lower Manhattan". The New York Times. October 15, 1958. Retrieved 2024-11-02.
- ^ "Heliport at Battery Approved by City; Will Open in 1961". The New York Times. May 28, 1960. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
- ^ "Port Agency Opens 2d Heliport, Linking Downtown to Airfields". The New York Times. December 9, 1960. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
- ^ Benepe, Adrian; Birnbaum, Merritt (January 30, 2016). "A Plague of Helicopters Is Ruining New York". Opinion. The New York Times.
External links
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