On July 18, Blue Mobility launched a project for a helicopter bus business on the main island of Okinawa on Makuake, a support purchase service. The project will run until August 25.
Helicopter Bus (Helibus) is a flying transportation infrastructure project using a four-seat helicopter (one of which is the pilot), which will begin operation on September 2. The service will initially operate between Naha Airport, Onna Village, and Nago, and in the future, the company plans to build a route that will cover the main island of Okinawa from north to south.
Fares average 20,000 yen per section one-way. The flights are operated on weekends and national holidays. Dynamic pricing will be introduced in the future, with fares varying depending on the seat, time of day, and peak season, such as a seat next to the pilot with a good view or a time of day with a beautiful evening view, but the fare is expected to be “around 35,000 yen at the most. However, due to the helicopter’s structure, large luggage cannot be loaded, so suitcases and other items must be arranged for delivery separately.
Blue Mobility will be in charge of marketing, system development, and operations, while Space Aviation, which operates helicopter cabs and helicopter tours, will be in charge of actual operations. Although not yet open as of today, the helibus reservation site will be “like a reservation page for a cinema complex,” where you select the date, time, section, and seat, select the seat you want, make payment (credit card, QR code, etc.), and simply board the bus at the site.
Mr. Takanori Michihiro, President of Blue Mobility, pointed out that tourism tends to be completed only in the Naha and Kokusai-dori areas, using the traffic congestion around Naha Airport and the difficulty of accessing rental cars as examples. If the central and northern areas of the main island are not visited and the associated consumption is not generated, “Okinawa will become obsolete in the future,” he says.
In fact, although Okinawa is included in the world’s longevity zone known as the Blue Zone, the population is declining and aging in the northern and other parts of the country. The company is trying to give back to the local community through the development of the helibus, and at the same time, the project has the aspect of disaster prevention for the local community, as “if something happens, local residents can be transported by helicopter.
Mr. Michihiro himself is an “Uchinamook” (an out-of-prefecture man married to an Okinawan woman) who was born in Osaka but married an Okinawan woman and currently resides in Okinawa. Even the layman’s eye would think that the average price of 20,000 yen for a 30-minute one-way helicopter ride is too low, but according to Michihiro, the company is “just barely in the red” at the time of its launch. However, Michihiro says that at the time of launch, the company was “just barely making a profit.” The reason why the company is still developing its business is because of his wish to boost tourism in Okinawa. However, in addition to the regular, high-frequency helicopter bus service, the company also operates an irregular helicopter cab service targeting foreign visitors to Japan and wealthy individuals, which is expected to be the main driver of earnings.
In addition, the company is working with a local cab company to establish a framework for secondary transportation from the heliport, whereby passengers can get on the bus as soon as they get off the helicopter. Discussions are currently underway with the local government to make this a semi-authorized business, and in the future, the company aims to develop additional heliports, increase the size of its fleet (6-seater), and work with the national government to make it a semi-public institution.
The Makuake project handles boarding tickets for the applicable boarding period of September 2 to February 25, 2024 (excluding December 23 to January 7), and includes a single ticket for 9,800 yen, 10 tickets for 150,000 yen, and 20 tickets for 300,000 yen.
© Source travel watch
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