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| Voom app offers to hail a helicopter for a fraction of the price of an ordinary air charter. |
Brazil and the Philippines share one thing in common: traffic
congestion. And while the Philippines has yet to come up with an innovative way
to lessen traffic, Brazil especially Sao Paulo has a
slighter edge compared to us. Its new mobile app, Voom, allows commuters
to hail a helicopter when they’re stuck in traffic and needs to be somewhere, as
soon as possible.
Voom, a mobile app that offers on-demand helicopter services, operates
similarly like Uber and Grab. The only difference is that Voom uses helicopters
to transport commuters not cars.
Airbus group, A3, is the brains behind Voom. Their goal is for commuters
to have a faster and more comfortable way of transportation, with a faster
arrival time for as little as an hour. This should include booking a flight to
the actual takeoff.
“Voom has developed the technology to bring helicopter travel into the
mobile age, focusing on improving helicopter capacity utilization, flexible
scheduling and ensuring a delightful rider experience.”
Launched as a beta version, the mobile app borrows heavily on Uber’s
business concept. Voom doesn’t operate the helicopter themselves. The ones who
do this are RBAC 135 air taxi companies.
The process is almost the same as well. A user first needs to enter his
weight, number of baggages, actual location and preferred destination. Voom
will use all these information to calculate the rate.
The app is very specific in terms of instructions. For example, if it
matches a user to the helipad of a nearby hotel, it will even instruct them on whom
to speak at the hotel so they can go to the waiting lounge.
The price rates for Voom are more expensive compared to Uber and other
ride-sharing apps. However, market rates before Voom were actually ten times
more compared to its rates.
Voom has also made things easier for commuters. In the past, users had
to schedule in advance and book not less than two days before their actual
departure.
“We’ve built one of the world’s first truly on-demand helicopter booking
platforms that provides travellers the ultimate in convenience and reliability,
yet does so in the most affordable and accessible way available today,” writes
Voom CEO Uma Subramanian on the company’s blog.
So far, the app has received good reviews from users.
”I chose Voom because it fits within my travel budget, it’s economical
and it’s practical,” says Mr.Boyde, a Voom user.
“Those are two hours I can now use for work, which is handy given the
tight schedule I have,” he adds.
Just like the Philippines, Brazil (particularly Sao Paulo) is also
notorious for its poor public transportation system, losing around 10 hours per
week due to traffic congestion alone.
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