Destinations known | A new kind of Thailand flight experience, seaplane services from Bangkok planned to take off this year – just don’t drink too much before boarding
- Siam Seaplane aims to fly passengers around the Gulf of Thailand from Bangkok, with tickets expected to be priced between 5,000 baht (US$150) and 15,000 baht
- Longer-term plans include a seaplane hub in Phuket, but flights are unlikely to ever be longer than 90 minutes because of the lack of toilets on board
Services never got off the ground – or rather, the water – but how cool would it have been to fly by modern seaplane from Hong Kong to Macau or other cities in the Pearl River Delta?
In 2008, the South China Morning Post ran a story about Waterfront Air, “a firm founded by Canadian entrepreneur Michael Agopsowicz [with] plans to operate a scheduled seaplane service between a new Kai Tak Waterfront Aerodrome and the Pak On ferry terminal near Macau’s Cotai Strip”.
“The company intends to use a fleet of 18-seater DHC-6 Twin Otter floatplanes for the flights, which would take about 20 minutes,” read the article. “The Tourism Commission and the Tourism Board have given their backing to the proposal because it would enhance Hong Kong’s appeal as a city with diversity and fun. But the project first needs to pass an environmental-impact assessment.”
Waterfront Air was still planning to fly between Hong Kong and Macau in 2013, when Australian entrepreneur Peter de Kantzow, a co-founder of the start-up, told Fortune magazine, “I just see a really great opportunity here.” (De Kantzow’s father, Sydney de Kantzow, knew a thing or two about starting up an airline, having co-founded Cathay Pacific Airways – a company that itself began with a seaplane service between Hong Kong and Macau).
Great opportunity or not, Waterfront Air appears to have sunk without trace, and the promise of a new seaplane service between the 852 and the 853 looks highly unlikely now the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge offers an alternative to the ferries and helicopters.