The INRENA (National Institute of Natural Resources) approved the resumption of commercial operations in helicopter to Machupicchu and ruled out that any type of environmental impact in the zone of the sanctuary exists, whether sonorous or by vibration. This resolution allows the operations of the company "Helicopteros del Cusco S.A. (Heli-Cusco). Thus same the heliport, located in the zone of "The Rocotal", in the kilometer 109 of the railroad that goes from Cusco to Machupicchu, also received the approval.
Nevertheless, the director of the National Institute of Culture (INC), Jorge Zegarra Balcázar, declared that this permission should not be offered to the company Heli-Cusco because the sanctuary is being damage in different ways. He also affirmed that the heliport is located only one kilometer away from Machu Picchu, and not three kilometers as it has been stated.
A meeting of the Machupicchu Unit of Management (UGM) will be carried out. The regional government, the INC Cusco, the Inrena and the Department of Tourism will participate. One of the factors that favors the use of helicopter flights is the APEC summit and the consequent protection of the heads of state.
Time for the Department of Transportations and Communications (MTC)
The responsibles of the flights affirm that this would be one more possibility, like an alternative to the trains that Peru Rail operates, to arrive to the new wonder of the modern world. This would place Machupicchu in line with other tourist attractions such as Rome, the Great Chinese Wall or the Pyramids of Egypt.
"The average of helicopter flights toward the sanctuary will be of two a day. We have capacity for 15 passengers in each flight", explained Herman Schwartzmann, general manager of Heli-Cusco.
Already with the authorization of the Inrena in hand, the time to resume operations depends on the days -- or weeks -- that the Department of Transportations and Communications (MTC) requires to emit the corresponding permissions, reported the businessman. According to him, these would be emitted before the end of the year.
Inca Trail Reservations will offer Helicopter Tours to Machu Picchu as soon as they become available.
Specialists will determine possible damages of overflight
On the effects of the flights of helicopters in Machupicchu, the regional director of the National Institute of Culture Cusco, Jorge Zegarra Balcázar, declared that the vibrations of the flights on the fortress will be determined by a group of specialists. "INRENA has the legal authority even to call specialists of the UNESCO, to determine with accuracy the effects of the flights on Machupicchu", since professionals in the field do not exist in the country for evaluation of the damages by noises to a building built in the middle of the fifteenth century.
