Ever since the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) launched the “Helicopter Ride Experience”, residents had been fighting over a spot on the 10-minutes chopper ride over Macau to appreciate the city’s view from the air.
The route is one of the most popular tours of the “Macau Ready Go” subsidy scheme. The popularity of the ride caused the registration system to crash on the first day it began to accept applications. A lucky draw had to be implemented in the end, where 31,333 joined the draw in July and only 1,000 got lucky. Last month, MGTO added 90 more helicopter flights due to the high demand.
The helicopter ride originally cost 678 patacas, but under the subsidy scheme, residents only have to pay 398 patacas.
The flight is around 10-minutes long. Before boarding the chopper the flight attendants provide passengers with earplugs and safety goggles. They also briefed the flyers on the safety instructions.
Before boarding, passengers have a few minutes to take pictures in front of the helicopter. Passengers can lower their facemasks, but they are not allowed to take off their masks because the wind might blow the mask into the helicopter engines.
The helicopter can hold 16 passengers but only eight of which will have the window seats. The flight is roughly 10-minutes long, and one will get to see Macau Tower, Cotai, Hengqin Island and the University of Macau campus.
The tour also includes a tour of Macau Tower and a visit to “The 3rd Light Night Market – I Wanna Go Out Tonight”, where one can spend the 100-pataca government subsidy consumption card that is provided during the tour.
Last Friday was a perfect day for a helicopter ride. It appeared as if Macau had never looked prettier.
Photos: Prisca Tang
