Helicopter Trips To NYC Airports Are Soaring: Report

QUEENS — Helicopter flights to the airport are on the rise, according to a NY1 report.

Chopper rides between Manhattan and JFK Airport have increased 81 percent over five years, hitting nearly 4,400 round trips in 2018, NY1 reported.

Between Manhattan and LaGuardia Airport, flights are up by more than 40 percent, according to NY1.

Helicopter company Blade offers ride-sharing flights between Manhattan and the airport for $195 per flight, and Uber is testing a similar service between Wall Street and JFK, the NY1 report says.

Blade also offers $340 private chopper rides to have brunch at JFK Airport's newly-opened TWA Hotel.

But some city lawmakers want to ban non-essential helicopter flights in New York City a month after a fatal crash in Midtown Manhattan in June.

The bill argues that the flights are a safety hazard to the general public and that the noise has negative health effects, citing a 1999 study that helicopter noise can cause an increased chance of high blood pressure, impaired psychological and cognitive functions and poor long-term memory in children.

In northeast Queens, residents have complained of unrelenting helicopter noise, which City Council Member Paul Vallone called a "real quality of life disturbance."