Everything146;s up in the air

With a flurry of campaign tours by star speakers, elections always come as good news for chopper companies. This was true of the Gujarat polls too. But amid all the din, the buzz was dominated by Rajya Sabha member Vijay Mallya8217;s United Helicharters bagging a couple of the key helicopter contracts. One of them was, for all practical purposes, for the permanent use of the Gandhi family. Mallya8217;s choppers also drew focus to his expanded operations after his deal with Air Deccan. After all, the Civil Aviation Ministry is expected to announce 2009 as the 8216;year of the helicopter8217;8212;and could there be a better way to get into top gear than the Gujarat elections? United Helicharters incidentally is a joint venture with Qatar Petroleum.