Local businessman Steven Cheung plans to reintroduce seaplanes to Hong Kong. This from TransitJam.
It has been tried before; plenty of red tape looms; and eight passengers paying only HK$250 (US$32) sounds almost too good to be true. But apparently he has already raised HK$100 million (US$13 million) and the seaplanes would add a whole new dimension to the enjoyment of one of the World’s great harbours by tourists and residents alike.
The role of the government will, of course, be fundamental. Avoid the large aircraft and stay below their flight paths into Chek Lap Kok to the west; avoid the surface vessels to Macau and upriver, also to the west; pontoons will be needed for embarking and disembarking. But there is little traffic on the harbour itself and there is plenty of space to the east and south. Not easy maybe but, with the necessary political will, it could surely be done.
We once took a joyride in a seaplane from the Zambesi just upriver from Victoria Falls. Part of the thrill lay in wondering what would happen if the plane slipped its mooring before the engine started up and the plane was left to drift downstream those last few hundred feet … A seaplane service in Hong Kong would not need that extra excitement. We wish Mr. Cheung well.
