Escaping 'banjir' with the helimousine

The Jakarta Post, K. Basrie, Jakarta

The annoying floodwaters that recently inundated the vital tollroad to the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport raised a single question in the minds of Jakarta's leisure-seeking class: How to escape this monotonous banjir routine?

It wouldn't be Jakarta if it couldn't handle a problem of its own making. Like other cities, it always has a solution to offer its well-to-do.

Removing the need for an unpleasant journey on Jakarta's roads, the capital has several helicopter leasing firms that offer an extreme way to reach, for example, the airport from a number of licensed points in the capital, like hotels and high- rise buildings, for about 10 minutes at slightly over US$100 per trip per person. Under normal traffic conditions on the ground, a smart driver could reach the airport from Semanggi in 45 minutes. Under the worst possible conditions, there is no such thing as a smart driver.

Of course, the one-trip rate roughly equals the monthly transportation budget for ordinary people here, but then again, spending such an amount might be much, much better for Jakarta's supreme executives than grumbling nervously and sweating for hours on the soaked roadside with their helpless chauffeurs.

But the air taxi service, which some call the 'helimosine', is not for everyday use, right?

Among the helicopter-leasing firms still operating here are PT Air Pacific, PT Derazona Air Service, PT Gatari Air Service and PT Helizona.

Of the four, it is the blue helicopters belonging to Air Pacific, a subsidiary of the Lippo Group, that are most often seen in Jakarta's skies.

Why? Because others prefer to charge clients based on chartered hourly, rather than individual, rates. So they don't serve passengers on a one-to-one basis.

Helizona, for example, offers its two-seat Robinson-22 at $350 per hour to any destination from its base in Lido, Sukabumi.

A group of four people could use Derazona's Bell-206B for $750 per hour, and a gang of 12 could charter Gatari's Bell-412 for $2,250 per hour. These two helicopter-leasing companies are based at Halim Perdanakusuma airport in East Jakarta.

Most of the firms apply a minimum hire period of two hours per day, so if you suddenly need a chopper for an emergency trip, for business or medical reasons, you'll have to think twice about using this service.

Unlike its rivals, Air Pacific serves one-to-one passengers for trips it has developed in Jakarta, as long as there is a minimum of three passengers.

"Less than three passengers, we're not flying. Also when the weather is bad," Rusli, the company's flight operation staffer, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

He explained that each of Air Pacific's three Bell-407 helicopters had a maximum capacity of six people.

The service available to the public links Air Pacific's base at the Lippo Karawaci business and housing complex with several helipads in the heart of Jakarta, such as Halim Perdanakusuma airport, Aryaduta Hotel, Mega Kuningan, Aston Hotel Sudirman and Mandarin Oriental Jakarta Hotel.

From the pick-up points, the five-year old Air Pacific -- which currently has four pilots, mostly graduates from the Curug Pilot School in Tangerang -- also takes passengers to Soekarno- Hatta airport.

The business?

"On average, we serve some 300 people every month," Rusli said.

When asked separately, Robert Haubourdin, marketing consultant for the newly-operating Helizona firm, said his company had no plans to seriously enter the helicopter charter business.

"We're not so active in chartering helicopters because we're focusing our business on sales of helicopters," he said.

For chartered flights, Air Pacific sets its price at $1,000 per hour, also with a minimum duration of two hours per day.

Under this service, passengers could ask for a flight anywhere in the country, Rusli added. "There's no minimum number of passengers here, but a maximum of six people."

However, for an overnight trip, only five passengers were allowed since the remaining seat was for a technician, he explained.

One of Air Pacific's U.S.-made Bell helicopters was built in 1997, while the other two are two years old. With a price tag of $1.9 million each, the interiors of the Bell craft are fully air- conditioned with roomy seats upholstered in genuine leather.

Unfortunately, all helicopters -- including those operated by other private firms -- are only allowed to use Jakarta's airspace between 7 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.

We don't need a weather man to tell us that water might again engulf Jakarta's streets sometime in the next few weeks.

So why not try a ride or two aboard a helimousine and enjoy watching the other limos trapped in the banjir down on the ground.

But if you are rushing to the airport by chopper for a flight, please make sure that the airline has back-up crew, or has already ordered its pilots and crew to take the same short-cut through the sky.

Otherwise, you may find yourself the only outbound passenger in the airport while the TV stations are still busy broadcasting several dozen cars, including those carrying the crew for your flight, stalled in the water on the airport tollroad.