DESTINATION AIR China Seaplane Service

Posted: 15 Jan 2010 | 6:00 am

A start up seaplane venture is set to service flights between Shenzhen, Macau and Guangzhou by the end of this year. While WaterfrontAir had hoped to initially fly from Hong Kong to Macau, they have been delayed pending approvals on concerns about environmental impact and noise issues.

Seaplane had flown the Hong Kong to Macau flight in the 1930's though the 1950's. The airline will be using Twin Otter floatplanes with 18-seat capacity on the route.

Phuket experienced a start up floatplane business a few years back with Destination Air aiming to access both the flight seeing segment and Great Phuket access to Phang Nga Bay, Krabi and Koh Lanta. A series of controversial incidents highlighted by a ban on Patong bay landings along with financial issues plagued the company.

While the group had announced plans to resume regular service last year, at the time of writing this there have been no resumption of scheduled flights. As Phuket and Phang Nga continue to push out into more distant emerging locations longer term the island clearly could use a well-managed seaplane service, which destinations such as the Maldives successfully operate.

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