Waterfront Air () is a Chinese airline started in 2008 with the aim of reintroducing

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...

services from

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Victoria Harbour Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbour in Hong Kong separating Hong Kong Island in the south from the Kowloon Peninsula to the north. The harbour's deep, sheltered waters and strategic location on South China Sea were instrumental i ...

. In 2014 the airline ended plans for operating in Hong Kong and instead is focusing its operations in the Chinese mainland.

History

Waterfront Air was founded by Michael Agopsowicz and co-founded by

Peter de Kantzow Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

, who is the son of

Sydney de Kantzow Sydney Hugh ("Syd") de Kantzow (9 November 1914 – 21 November 1957) was the Australian co-founder of Cathay Pacific Airways with American Roy Farrell. De Kantzow, the son of Charles Adolphus de Kantzow, was born to a family of Polish/Swedis ...

, the Australian co-founder of

Cathay Pacific Airways Cathay Pacific Airways Limited (CPA), more widely known as Cathay Pacific (), is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main hub located at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline's operations and subsidiaries have s ...

. Six years after the company began, Waterfront Air HK ceased operations on 23 December 2014 without any established routes, according to Hong Kong's Companies Registry record. However, HaiXiang Air 海翔公務航空有限公司 will operate seaplane services in China under the English name Waterfront Air. HaiXiang Air received their AOC preliminary approval in China on 10 August 2015 from the CAAC South Central branch.

Proposed Routes

HaiXiang Air operating as Waterfront Air has planned routes between

and

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

and Shenzhen, with estimated flight time of 20 minutes. There are additional plans to extend the services to

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

and other parts of

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

in the near future. Waterfront Air's proposed destinations: *

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

***

Shenzhen Airport Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport (formerly Shenzhen Huangtian Airport) is the airport serving Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. It is located on the east bank of the Pearl River near Huangtian and Fuyong villages in Bao'an District, and is ...

Main hub *** Nan'ao *

Fleet

Waterfront Air plans to lease

de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada, which produced the aircraft from 1965 to 1988; Viking Air purchased the type certificate, then restarted ...

s, but no aircraft appeared to have been ordered or delivered.

Facilities

The airline had planned to use the old

Kai Tak Kai Tak Airport was the international airport of Hong Kong from 1925 until 1998. Officially known as Hong Kong International Airport from 1954 to 6 July 1998, it is often referred to as Hong Kong International Airport, Kai Tak, or simply Ka ...

Airport adjacent to the

Kai Tak Cruise Terminal Kai Tak Cruise Terminal is a cruise ship terminal on the former Kai Tak Airport runway in Hong Kong. Its completion date was delayed into 2013 due to re-tendering. Following an international competition, Foster + Partners was chosen to d ...

in Victoria Harbour for operations in Hong Kong.

Progress

In February 2010, the airline reached an agreement with

Group to make Shenzhen the company's main base. On 6 January 2010, Waterfront Air signed a memorandum of understanding with the Shenzhen Airport Ferry Terminal Services Company Limited to operate seaplane services from Shenzhen Airport Ferry Pier to various destinations in the Greater Pearl River Delta. On 1 April 2013, Waterfront Air concluded an agreement with the Shenzhen

Dapeng Peninsula Dapeng Peninsula or Dapengbandao () is a peninsula in the east of Longgang district, that lies in the easternmost part of Shenzhen in the Guangdong Province in China.To the southwest of the peninsula is Mirs Bay and to the northeast is Daya Bay ...

government to operate seaplane services from Nan'Ao. In July, 2015, Viking Air announced the certification of the Twin Otter in China. On 10 August 2015, HaiXiang Air received their AOC preliminary approval in China from the CAAC South Central branch.

References

External links

* {{Transport in China Airlines of China Defunct airlines of Hong Kong Airlines established in 2008 Seaplane operators