Helicopter Ride-Sharing service in the Philippines

CEBU, Philippines — The vehicular traffic situation in the Philippines seems to be in a rut. It just goes around like it does, no matter what the government tries to do about the nerve-wrecking traffic jams. The delays that result from getting stalled on the road – but whine and be utterly frustrated – are costing the nation millions of pesos every day.

And yet the country’s transportation regulatory office reports thousands of cars continually being registered. Car companies are making it easier for people to own cars. And the increasing number of cars all frequently converges on the same roads.

Some say public utility jeepneys are no longer enough to serve the current bulk of commuters. Taxis are getting scarce, too. The ride-hailing service, like Grab and Uber, are welcome helps, although these are not much of a solution of the overall traffic dilemma on the ground; in a way, these still contribute to the already bad traffic on the roads.

Perhaps, there’s need to think outside-the-box, to get off to a higher perspective. The website www.techinasia.com reports that a Singaporean company is doing just that – getting passengers off the ground in order to escape from the traffic jams. And the idea is soon to be brought to the Philippines.

According to www.techinasia.com, Singapore’s Ascent Flights Global is set to launch its helicopter ride-sharing service in the Philippines anytime now. Once the service is established here, the company plans to expand to Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia next year, and then to China and Japan.

Obviously, the service is just too sophisticated – and expensive! – for the ordinary commuters. It is actually targeted at top executives and luxury travelers. The helicopters are initially to fly to central business districts in Makati City and Taguig City, as well as airports in Manila and Clark.

The company is said to be aiming to raise up to US$5 million in a couple of years to fund regional expansion. Such expansion can mean putting more helicopters up in the air, not to mention the possibility of other companies following suit on the idea. Then a new kind of traffic problem may ensue.