INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A helicopter charter company on Thursday said the Indianapolis Airport Authority wasn’t responding to a higher bid on the Indianapolis Heliport than the city government offered.

The Indianapolis Airport Authority (IAA) owns the heliport, located downtown on Washington Street, a few blocks east of the City-County Building. The IAA began the process of shutting down the heliport in late 2020. It was home to one full-time tenant at the time, IU Health.

The FAA initially approved the closure of the heliport in December 2024.

Last November, the IAA’s board approved a proposal to sell the airport to the city for a little less than $10.9 million. Democratic Mayor Joe Hogsett has said he wants to tear down the heliport and build a Major League Soccer stadium in its place.

But, there was another offer on the table: Helicopter charter company Sweet Helicopters wanted to buy the heliport for $14 million and keep it open.

The company is best known for providing helicopter flights to and from Indianapolis Motor Speedway throughout May.

The company’s business development director, Bob Bailey, told News 8 that company officials have been trying without success for the past four years to convince the IAA and city officials to take their offer. He said company owner Chuck Surack went so far as to write directly to the IAA earlier this year to suggest a public meeting, an offer Bailey said the IAA turned down.

“We’ve tried over the last four years, repeatedly, to engage the airport authority and the city of Indianapolis in dialogue on a win-win situation, a way to keep the heliport open, and at every point, we’ve been shut down,” he said.

Bailey said the company flies about 300 passengers out of downtown during the Indianapolis 500, roughly 60% of their total race day traffic.

In addition to the May-related flights for events at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Bailey said Sweet Helicopters frequently flies VIPs in for Colts home games and provides business charter flights on demand, though he added the company does not fly out of downtown daily.

The heliport closed to operations on Dec. 15. Then, early this year, the Federal Aviation Authority halted any further efforts to decommission the facility and opened a new public comment period.

Gov. Mike Braun, Attorney General Todd Rokita, and U.S. Rep. Jefferson Shreve, all Republicans, each wrote letters to the FAA urging the agency to keep the heliport open, noting the FAA is only permitted to consider a closure’s net impact on area aviation services.

Rokita said he was concerned by the fact that Hogsett appoints six of the 11 members of the IAA board and has publicly said he wants to build a soccer stadium on the site. He wrote that this fact raises questions about the objectivity of the IAA’s decision.

News 8 contacted both the IAA and the mayor’s office for comment. Neither provided any statements for the story before deadline Thursday.

During the second public comment period, Hogsett’s chief of staff, Chris Bailey, said the city approached Surack about providing input for a conceptual new, elevated heliport downtown for private aviation, but Surack declined to do so.

“Last year in 2025, the heliport ceased to be a location for helicopters carrying out emergency medical services. Likewise, the City does not utilize the heliport for any public safety or emergency response services and the heliport is not a part of any City emergency management response plan or contingency. Keeping the heliport open just to serve private interests is not the best service to the public – and, as the IAA and the FAA previously determined, is not in the best interests of civil aviation. Rather, as the IAA and FAA have previously determined, reinvestment of the fair market value sale proceeds of the heliport by IAA in other local aviation infrastructure would be a net benefit to aviation.

“Downtown Indianapolis is in a renaissance period, seeing historic levels of investment, growth, and cultural activity. This resurgence is driving economic success for the Indianapolis metro area and causing positive ripple effects across the state of Indiana. The site at 51 S. New Jersey is key to furthering this growth, unlocking the full redevelopment potential of the southeast quadrant of downtown.

“The FAA should maintain its Closure Determination, permit the IAA to utilize the proceeds of the sale of the heliport to benefit civil aviation in the Indianapolis community, and not take action to upset the City’s reliance on the Closure Determination to redevelop the heliport property.”

Chris Bailey, mayor’s chief of staff, Indianapolis city government

Besides charter use, Bob Bailey said the heliport is ideal infrastructure for the emerging flying taxi industry, which the FAA approved for test flights in some states this year. He said it’s also a good location for drone delivery and for medical helicopters. Bailey said newer air ambulances are often heavier than their predecessors due to upgrades such as more powerful engines and thus cannot land on the roofs of some hospitals.

The FAA said it is reviewing the feedback it received during the second public comment period and will make a decision at a later time.

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