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Winged Taxi over Moscow
By Sergei Borisov The Moscow News
In 2006, people who are in a hurry will be able to wave down not only a passing taxi
cab but also a plane or a helicopter
The Mayor's Office is determined to advance the once announced Moscow Air Taxi,
offering a new kind of transport to dwellers and guests of the capital. This will be the
first project of this kind in Russia. In the United States, as well as in some Europea-
countries, similar projects were launched long ago.
To all appearances, the clientele is not going to be recruited from ordinary citizens. A
one-hour flight on such an air taxi will cost $650, according to Konstantin Zorin,
deputy general director of the Atlant-Soyuz airline. But managers of the company are
convinced that the real cost of a flight will be much less. It is simple arithmetic: $650
is the price to fly for one hour on a particular kind of helicopter. If you take, for ex-
ample, Sokol, a Polish helicopter, it will cost $1000. The flight price will be divided
proportionally between all passengers aboard. The chopper can carry 10 people. A
shorter, less than an hour-long flight will be cheaper. Thus, everything will depend on
the helicopter type, the number of passengers and the flight length. The organizers of
the air taxi believe its cost will only slightly exceed the price of a trip in a compart-
ment car of a train.
Atlant-Soyuz, a company founded by the Moscow government, is responsible for the
development and implementation of the air taxi program. Among other companies
participating in the project are Rastech, Aviakominfo and Ecos. The main aim of the
program is "improving Moscow's transportation infrastructure and increasing its eco-
nomic efficiency," Zorin told reporters at the MAKS-2005 air show held this August
in Zhukovsky, where outlines of the ambitious plan were unveiled. Among the pro-
ject's aims is the revival of inter-regional passenger transportation between Moscow
and cities of the Central Federal District.
The main objectives of the air taxi program are transportation of passengers by heli-
copters and planes, charter flights, regular passenger flights and applied aviation
work. The developers think the project could help create more comfortable conditions
of running business for those who want to save time. Businessmen are the main target
group of the new enterprise, especially those who work with partners in the Central
Federal District. But tourists have not been forgotten either. Heliports and helicopter
landing pads, according to the conception, should link the capital with airports in the
Moscow region and main regional and area centers of the central part of Russia.
It is hoped that the development of air taxi transportation will positively influence
restoration and improvement works in regional airports, as well as create new work-
places.

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