CHICAGO — The only complaint Mike Conklin ever received from his time helicoptering President Bill Clinton around in Marine One came from the White House chief usher, who politely asked if there were some way to quit strafing the flowers with wind from the rotors.

That negligible complaint notwithstanding, Mr. Conklin is using the expertise he gained in piloting Mr. Clinton 192 times over more than four years to pitch Chicago’s corporate community on a new, potentially lucrative business concept: getting downtown mostly by helicopter, avoiding the city’s clogged expressways.

He is well aware that helicopter flight isn’t the cheapest means of travel — a flight can run as much as $3,600 an hour — and his newly established helicopter airport in Chicago is no sure bet. But high-rolling executives in other cities, including New York, have paid big premiums for decades to ride choppers to reduce their time stuck in traffic.

The $13 million Vertiport Chicago complex on the city’s near west side opened recently on 10 acres within plain view of the Willis Tower, two miles away. The facility sits in a cluster of hospitals and borders a sprawling freight yard on two sides. The complex’s main selling point is that it is a 10-minute car ride, if that, from the heart of Chicago’s main business district.