By Lindsay Hughes | December 23, 2013 Estimated reading time 4 minutes, 13 seconds.
A Montreal operator has launched a new air taxi service for commuters wanting to avoid heavy traffic delays on the city’s gridlocked Champlain Bridge.
The new service — called “8 Minutes Montreal” — is provided by Helico Pro, a training school, maintenance facility, and VIP shuttle provider, using one of the company’s AgustaWestland A109s and one B206 LongRanger. Launched on Nov. 29, the service offers 16 departures a day: four from Dix30 mall in Brossard and four from the Beloeil airport in the morning, and another eight returning in the evening from Montreal.
Christian Assad, pilot and founder of Helico Pro, told Canadian Skies that the service was aimed at the general public — not just the VIP traveler — being priced at just $99 each way.
“I thought I’d bring it down to an acceptable price — we’d take a financial risk, set it up and try it for two or three months,” said Assad. “The helicopters will bring back money if we fill them up.”
The helicopters are configured for six passengers each. Without a public helipad downtown, Assad lands in an empty field next to a bridge, where taxis are waiting to pick up the passengers.
Assad said the customer base is not people who would fly every day. He considers 8 Minutes Montreal to have three types of users: people living outside the city who travel to Montreal only occasionally; regular commuters who need to ensure they won’t become stuck in traffic on a particular day for an important meeting; and people who usually work from home that need to visit their main office every now and then.
“We didn’t think that the main user would be the person that needs to go into work every day,” said Assad. “We didn’t aim at the person who was going to replace his car with the helicopter.”
This isn’t the first time Assad has tried to bring a regular air taxi service to Montreal. About 12 years ago, he pitched the idea of what was then an air bridge of 25 helicopters to the provincial government, but although there was interest, he was told that it wasn’t possible at that time.
It’s only now as the Champlain Bridge — the busiest bridge into the city — is undergoing major repairs that Assad revisited his idea.
“The problems with the bridge brought the idea back, but this time instead of trying to make a grand plan, I said what if we do it with a couple helicopters, try to get it started, and see what happens,” he said. “The timing of this isn’t to put a band-aid on the situation. Even if they fix the bridge or build a new one, I think this means of transportation could survive.”
Although at this time only a handful of people have used the service, Assad says the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.
“The ones that have used it, they’re amazed. They say they’re going to use it all the time,” he said. “I didn’t think that it would start very quickly, but if someone takes it, I don’t think they’ll go again in traffic.”
To book a flight visit 8minutesmontreal.ca.
