VietNamNet Bridge – Air taxi was first served in Vietnam many
years ago, but it has only become popular over the last year.
The information that a family in
the central province of Nghe Tinh chartered a helicopter to carry a woman, who
got traffic accident, to a prestigious hospital in Hanoi for treatment has
caused curiosity among the public. It’s simply because air taxi service is yet
to become popular in Vietnam.
Prior to that, Nguyen Thi Hai, a
woman in the northern province of Lai Chau also spent 20,000 dollars, or 400
million dong, which is worth a fortune to every Vietnamese, to charter a
helicopter which carried her to a hospital in Hanoi.
Hai accepted to pay such a big
sum of money for the air service in an effort to rescue the child born
prematurely. With the great efforts by the mother, the child survived in a
miraculous way. This is the first child of Hai she suffered miscarriage many
times in the past.
However, air service, though
remaining unaffordable to many Vietnamese people, has become more popular in
Vietnam for the last few years.
In 2011, an US billionaire paid
100,000 dollars in deposit to charter the EC155B1 from Vitours, a travel firm.
The helicopter, which was scheduled to take off in Da Nang City, would carry
him to have sightseeing in the central region of Vietnam.
According to Tan Minh Hanh from
Vitours, which provides air taxi service, Vitours got the license to provide
air taxi services in December 2010, while it served the first client in January
2011.
Hanh said the travel firm has
received more orders since then, mostly from the clients who have the travel
demand, or from the businessmen who want to make field works for their real estate
development projects from above.
“One of every 10 clients of the
firm stays at five star hotel, while one of every 10 clients staying at five
star hotel uses air taxi service,” Hanh said about the demand.
Vitours now has two helicopters
ready for the service. One of the helicopters is a MI 17, comprising of 24
seats, made in Russia. One would have to pay 4800 dollars per hour, or 100
million dong to charter the helicopter. The clients who plan to make films or
take pictures, would have to pay higher fees, about 5700-6200 dollars per hour,
or 114-124 million dong.
The other helicopter has the
chartering fee double the MI 17, at 8400 dollar per hour, or 168 million dong.
The fees would be 8950-9300 dollars per hour if clients want to make films or
take pictures.
An executive of the Northern Air
Service Company said that if serving travelers, helicopters would fly at the
average speed of 100-250 kilometers per hour. However, in emergency case, the
speed could be up to 350-500 kilometers per hour.
The biggest advantage of the
flying machines is that they can land in resorts and the places with the area
of 250 square meters, or on the top of the high rise buildings.
In fact, helicopters have been
used for medical emergency cases for the last 10 years already. However, the
main clients using the service are the petroleum companies operating on special
terrains, or at the oil rigs in the open sea. Therefore, the service remains
unfamiliar to the majority of people.
However, analysts believe that
with the living standards of Vietnamese improved considerably, a lot of
Vietnamese have become rich enough to afford the air taxi service.
The executive of the air service
company said the company now has seven helicopters made in Russia and France.
The chartering fees are between 4500 and 7300 dollars per hour.
Compiled by C. V
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Healthcare and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN. We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programmes. Many thanks for visiting www.yourvietnamexpert.com and/or contacting us at contact@yourvietnamexpert.com
No comments:
Post a Comment