LANGKAWI: In the next three months, a new app called Heli Taxi will be available for smartphone users to book helicopter service that will fly them to their destinations.
Currently being developed by Heli Outpost Sdn Bhd, the app will enable booking helicopter service at your fingertips as easy as booking a ride on your favourite taxi.
Headed by the company’s chief executive officer Faiz Fahmi Sazali, 29, a Langkawi Island native, the app was conceptualised on ‘real-time location tracking’, as well as payment system for easy access by customers and can change the booking method used, from manual to digital.
“The application comprises two services, namely the Helicopter Tour where tourists can book helicopters to fly around the Langkawi Island through the existing packages provided, and the Helicopter Taxi where people can book a helicopter ride to fly to their destinations, for example to fly from Alor Star to Ipoh,” Faiz Fahmi told Bernama.
He said this after the launch of the app by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak at the ‘I am Usahawan GO 4.0’ carnival, organised by the Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia (MCCM) at the Langkawi Development Authority (LADA) parking lot here today.
Currently, there are 11 helicopters available for customers, namely six Robinson 44 (R44) aircraft that can accommodate four passengers, including the pilot, and five Robinson 66 (R66) model to carry five passengers, involving locations such as Langkawi Island, Kuala Terengganu, Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Port Dickson.
Of these, three helicopters are stationed in Langkawi Island with all flights operated by Cempaka Helicopter Corporation Sdn Bhd which has operating licence.
Faiz Fahmi said since the commercial and tourism helicopter service was introduced in 2009, it received good response, and in the first three years of operation, it recorded 5,000 passengers annually.
He said the number had been increasing over the years and last year, the company recorded the highest number thus far, at 18,000 passengers, an average of 20 flights per day, where the majority of the patrons were the tourists from the Middle East. -- BERNAMA