The service connects Hanoi, Vientiane in Laos, Phnom Penh in Cambodia and Ho Chi Minh City three times each week. Passengers in wet-weather gear and a safety jacket are taken on a twisting, turning route around the harbor, clinging to a steel bar in front of their seats and wearing foot straps. If seas are calm, it may even pass through the Heads towards Bondi or Manly.
Bookings are essential.
It's a clockwise circumnavigation of North and South islands by private aircraft, including aerial sightseeing of the Southern Alps and Fjordland National Park with stopovers including Wellington, Queenstown and Christchurch. Goh said the pressing problems were staff numbers and staff attitude. The airline said it will test the system on one of its aircraft later this year, and expects to introduce the service across its long-haul fleet by 2002, according to a spokeswoman. BA is hoping the service will have particular appeal to business passengers. They will be able to plug their laptop computers into telephone sockets set into the back of the seat in front of them.