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Plan for air taxi

DUBAI — Stuck on the congested road with an eye on the running taxi meters? Passengers, who depend on taxi services in the UAE, may well be able to avoid the roads altogether, soon.

Air taxi is the next big thing in the air!

Cars Taxi, a franchise company of Dubai Taxi Agency, is planning exactly that.

It will soon offer its passengers speedier and comfortable travel as it plans to launch a helicopter taxi service by 2009, said a senior official yesterday.

Abdullah Sultan Al Sabbagh, General Manager of Cars Taxi, told Khaleej Times: “It is an ambitious project. We have great plans.”

All approvals regarding the project had been acquired, he said.

He, however, did not clarify how the project would actually be implemented and how much the fare would be. “We are still working out the details,” he added.

Al Sabbagh also did not also say how many helicopters would be required or hired to start the project initially. “We aim at covering the whole of UAE, just like our car taxis do, but details will be announced later,” he said.

Initially, only VIPs would be able to use the service.

“We will expand it depending on its success and make it available for everyone,” he said.

Al Sabbagh announced the project on Saturday while celebrating the Cars Taxi Day 2007 at Boom Tourist Village.

Cars Taxi Company was launched seven years ago. It also operates the Citi Taxi in Sharjah in coordination with Sharjah Transport Corporation. At present, it has a fleet of over 800 taxis in Dubai alone.