Uttarakhand govt calls off heli services for monsoon season

The Uttarakhand government has formally called off helicopter services for Chardham Yatra in the Kedarnath area for the monsoon season. Heli companies have closed their services till the second phase of Yatra for winter pilgrimage.

All six helicopter companies operating for Chardham Yatra in the Kedarnath Shrine area left Kedar Valley on Sunday after grounduing their flying machines, including a group of seven helis. According to Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) officials, heli services for Kedarnath will resume after the monsoon ends in September.

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Notably, the heli services in the Kedarnath Valley were marred after June 15 helicopter crash near Gaurikund killing seven passengers, including a 23-month-old girl child. This has resulted in the suspension of heli services by the state government for a day and cancellation of licences of two pilots for violating government order.

Later, the suspension of heli services was extended to June 21. However, helicopter services couldn’t resume even after that. Cancellation of flights also resulted in massive inconvenience to the pilgrims, especially those who had booked their tickets in advance.

This chardham season, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) permitted only nine helicopters of eight aviation companies to operate in the Kedarnath pilgrimage that started off on May 2, 2025. The Kedarnath pilgrimage was not productive for heli companies till June 21 due to recurring inclement weather conditions and the fear in public caused by two copter crashes and several other emergency landings.

Nearly 13,300 advance booked tickets were cancelled causing financial loss of more than ₹8.65 crore to the helicopter companies. The cancellation of tickets was also done to reduce the number of sorties following orders from the government owing to two helicopter crashes in less than 40 days.