开往澳门的水上飞机

    亚洲的豪赌客们很快就有望以一种时尚的新方式抵达澳门，这种拉风的方式就是乘坐水上飞机。

    曾几何时，水上飞机就像中国帆船一样，是维多利亚港海景的组成部分，但那种景象在过去50年已经销声匿迹。如今想从香港去澳门基本上有两种选择：一是高速渡轮，这种方式大约需要花一个小时，单程经济舱的票价不到20美元；二是直升飞机，这种方式能让你省下时间，但也会吓坏一些人。老实说，原因不仅仅是因为它的花费高出渡轮25倍还多。

    “我在这里看到了一个真正巨大的商机，”来自澳大利亚的企业家彼得•德坎特佐说。58岁的他是一名会计师兼休闲飞行员，他的前一个重要身份是卡尔文克莱恩（Calvin Klein Jeanswear）香港办事处的负责人。

    德坎特佐左右手腕各戴着一只金表，分别是劳力士（Rolex）和摩凡陀（Movado），它们是德坎特佐的父亲传给他的遗物。他的父亲就是传奇飞行员西德尼•徳坎特佐，曾在二战期间驾驶货运飞机在横跨喜马拉雅山脉的驼峰航线飞行，并曾驾驶轰炸机从加拿大赶赴英国。战争结束之后，西德尼与人联合创立了国泰航空公司（Cathay Pacific）。据说，蒋介石夫人宋美龄除了西德尼之外不信任其他任何飞行员。当年，彼得只有3岁的时候，西德尼撒手人寰——具有讽刺意味的是，他死于一场车祸——但父亲留下来的遗产（西德尼也曾在维多利亚港驾驶水上飞机）很好地呈现在了儿子的新公司当中，即海翔航空（Waterfront Air）。

    当初，徳坎特佐进行市场调查时看到：1.大量的需求，在中国东南沿海地区，每年经由渡轮、直升飞机、大巴、汽车以及火车运送的跨境客运人数将近2亿人；2.一个他能借助一种新的旅行选择填补一个利基市场，它在速度、刺激程度以及景观方面与直升机一般无二，但价格却要更加便宜，而且显得更加浪漫。海翔航空将利用租来的DHC-6双水獭飞机组成的机队来运营这项业务——DHC-6双水獭飞机能够搭载16名乘客，是标志性的短距起降（STOL）两栖飞机，出产地是加拿大。

    徳坎特佐希望，这项业务最早明年就能在中国深圳宝安国际机场（Shenzhen International Airport）的一处广阔海运码头对外开放。他之所以选择那里、而不是邻近的香港，是因为深圳当局比香港当局更愿意迅速行动，原因在于深圳振兴旅游和服务行业的愿望，因为该地的制造业增长已经开始放缓。

    Asian high-rollers may soon have a stylish new way to make a splash on arrival in Macau: in a seaplane.

    Seaplanes were once as much a part of the Victoria Harbor seascape as Chinese junks, but not for the last 50 years. These days if you want to get to Macau from Hong Kong, you've got basically two options: high-speed ferry, which takes about an hour and costs less than $20 one-way in economy class; or helicopter, which will save you time but scares some people, frankly, and not just because it costs 25 times more than the boat does.

    "I just see a really great opportunity here," says Australian entrepreneur Peter de Kantzow, a 58-year-old accountant and recreational aviator whose last big gig was running the Hong Kong office of Calvin Klein Jeanswear.

    De Kantzow wears two gold watches, a Rolex and a Movado, one on each wrist -- relics passed down to him by his father, legendary aviator Sydney de Kantzow, who flew cargo across the Hump in the Himalayas and delivered bombers from Canada to England during World War II, and afterward co-founded Cathay Pacific; Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, it was said, trusted no other pilot but him. Sydney died when Peter was just three years old -- in a car wreck, ironically -- but the legacy of the father (who also flew seaplanes in Victoria Harbor) is very much present in the son's new venture, Waterfront Air.

    When de Kantzow surveys the market, he sees, 1) Plenty of demand: nearly 200 million cross-border passenger movements every year, by boat, helicopter, bus, car and train, from points up and down China's eastern seaboard; and 2) A niche he can fill with a travel option that matches the helicopter for speed, thrills, and great views, undercuts it on price, and beats it hands down on romance. Waterfront will operate with a leased fleet of DHC-6 Twin Otters -- iconic, 16-passenger, STOL (short takeoff and landing) amphibious planes, manufactured in Canada.

    De Kantzow hopes to launch as early as next year from a spacious marine terminal in China's Shenzhen International Airport. He's starting there instead of nearby Hong Kong because local authorities were willing to move more quickly than their counterparts in Hong Kong -- a function of Shenzhen's desire to boost its tourism and service sectors as growth in manufacturing has slowed.