“Time matters here and one minute lost can cause a million-dirham loss,” says a Dubai businessman, fluffing up an Emirates Today story on the launch of a new helicopter air taxi. The service is hailed as an innovative solution for go-getting business champions to beat Dubai’s traffic snarl-ups.
It is, of course, nonsense. It is a gimmick to suggest Dubai is an every-second-counts kind of town; that businessmen are whisked for meeting to meeting, concluding mega-bucks deals. The reality is that most meetings drag on for hours, are interrupted by endless mobile calls, and that you leave without a decision being made. In 10 years living in London, a city with far worse traffic and far bigger deals, I never once heard of a businessmen using a helicopter to make an intra-city trip.
In a city as small as Dubai it is extremely unlikely a helicopter would be quicker than a motorbike in getting people door to door. It will certainly be more expensive. Is every building to be equipped with a helipad and express elevators to company boardrooms?
And who misses out on ‘million-dirham deals’ because they were a minute late? If the deal is that important to you, set off earlier. If Dubai wanted to speed up business, it could start by cracking down on the late payment of bills.
3 comments:
I think this is just a fishing trip to gauge the response to the idea - which I agree is absolute nonsense.
They haven't yet researched possible routes, aircraft needed, costs or anything else, it's just a vague idea.
(Or perhaps the people behind it really do believe there's a market, which demonstrates their lack of business common sense).
Dubai says: 'We're so busy, we need helicopters.' Let's wait for Abu Dhabi to respond with jet-packs.
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