New Jersey vs Manhattan Helicopter Tours

From Manhattan if you are staying in the city and can fly Monday to Saturday; from New Jersey if your day is a Sunday or you are driving. HeliNY’s flight from Pier 6 costs from US$272 on promotion, usually US$322 a person for its shortest length (checked November 2026) and starts a 410 m walk from South Ferry station. Its flight from Linden Airport in New Jersey is 25 minutes, from US$355, and you have to get yourself to Linden. Westchester is a different product altogether: a private flight for two.

Weekdays and Saturdays, this calendar sells the flights from Pier 6; pick a Sunday and it offers the Linden flight.

Where each one starts

GetYourGuide listings and from-prices (checked November 2026); heliport days from Downtown Skyport’s heliport page, checked November 2026.

Two of those from-prices need a date beside them. HeliNY’s Pier 6 figure was a promotion on 24 November 2026; for both 2027 dates we read, 20 January and 24 March, the 12-15 minute flight was US$322.12. Charm Aviation’s Essex County figure did not show on the dates we read: its night-lights flight was US$351.94 on Sunday 29 November 2026, and 20 January 2027 was not bookable.

Manhattan: the short trip to the pier

Pier 6 is the one departure point you can walk to. South Ferry station is about 410 m away on foot, the Staten Island Ferry about 460 m. Three operators fly from the same heliport, so if HeliNY’s slot is full, Charm Aviation's or Zip Aviation's may not be. What you give up is Sunday: Downtown Skyport permits no tourist flights that day. Routes from this heliport keep to the water, as the Council’s data team writes, and it also notes that flights from other airports carry no such restriction (checked November 2026).

New Jersey: Sundays and longer flights

HeliNY's Linden flight is 25 minutes, over the Verrazzano Bridge towards Manhattan and up the Hudson, with a free shuttle from Linden train station if you ask for it; you make your own way out of Manhattan, and check-in is 50 minutes before. Hats, food, drinks and bags stay on the ground. By day the route takes in the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building and the George Washington Bridge; HeliNY’s night flight runs from this New Jersey base, not from Manhattan.

Charm Aviation flies 25-30 minutes out of Essex County Airport in Fairfield, where parking is free, and is marked wheelchair accessible. Zip Aviation's night skyline flight also leaves from Essex County, but it needs four passengers and was not on sale on the dates we read.

For a Manhattan hotel guest the trade is simple: a longer flight from New Jersey costs you the journey there and back.

Westchester: the private option

Wings Air Helicopters flies from Atlantic Aviation West at Westchester County Airport, 67 Tower Road, Harrison, NY. One price covers the cabin for up to two people: US$995 buys 30 minutes in a Robinson R44 on the dates we read, US$1,420 buys 45, and transfers cost more. Lower Manhattan and the statue are beyond the 30-minute flight’s reach. The private flight from Westchester has the details.

Which departure

Figures from the GetYourGuide listings (checked November 2026). Dates and promotions move them; read them as a guide, not a quote.