Civil Aviation wing was created in the Chief Minister’s Secretariat vide G.O No. 1494-GAD of 1987 dated 20.08.1987. The Government of Jammu and Kashmir started flying operation in 1987 using one Cheetah SA315B helicopter from Srinagar Airport. Subsequently a hangar was constructed at Nehru Helipad, Raj Bhawan Srinagar in 1991 and helicopter operations were commenced from the same. In 1997, One Super King Air 350(B-300) aircraft was inducted into the newly formed Civil Aviation Department of the UT of J&K. The first Bell-407 helicopter was inducted into the department in March 2001 followed by another Bell 407 Helicopter next year in 2002. A new twin engine helicopter Agusta 109E was acquired by the state in year 2006 to facilitate the flights of HEG and HCM. Important land mark in the history of department has been that it had the distinction of flying HER Excellency The President of India in state Helicopter twice. This perhaps will be the only state in the country with this distinction. In year 2007, the existing state plane Super king Air-350 was trade exchanged with a new one. At present therefore, state has fairly new inventory of aircrafts with modern cockpit and instrumentation.