Flores jetfoil rear at Wang Tak shipyard
The Jetfoil Conservation Concern Group is “highly concerned about the fate of the world’s first Boeing Jetfoil Flores,” the group said in a note sent yesterday to the Times.
The vessel has been sent to Wang Tak Engineering and Shipbuilding Company recently. The group worries that the ship will be dismantled in coming days and urges its owner, TurboJET, “to consider other options.”
According to the concerned group, the Boeing Jetfoil was a result of a commercialization plan of military hydrofoils in 1972.
The fully-submerged foils design allows the vessel to travel above water surface to avoid waves and turbulences which create seasickness.
Passengers “can enjoy a smooth and comfortable ride comparable to a jet aircraft while the vessel looks as if ‘flying’ above the sea,” the statement reads.
Since 1975, the jetfoil fleet has operated in the Hong Kong – Macau line for 45 years, setting “an almost unbreakable record of longevity in the line for a single model.”
Flores, launched in 1974 as Jetfoil One, is the first of its kind.
The vessel originally served as the official sample for Boeing to demonstrate its “leading technology” to global buyers, such as the late gambling tycoon Stanley Ho. Flores, named after an island of Portugal’s Azores archipelago, then shortly served in Hawaii until 1978 when Far East Hydrofoils Co., Ltd. purchased it for the Hong Kong – Macau line.
Flores is the third jetfoil serving this busy sea route, following Madeira and Santa Maria in 1975. Flores retired in 2008 and since then has been laid up in a Hong Kong shipyard. The Covid-19 pandemic has put the once busy Hong Kong – Macau line to a complete stop for over eight months.
The operator, TurboJET, is facing unprecedented challenges, hence, cost cutting plans such as retiring of older vessels has been initiated, making the shipyards over-crowded.
In August, a rumor has suggested that TurboJET plans to sell its retired vessels Flores and PS-30 hydrofoil Balsa for HKD700,000, stirring a heated discussion locally.
Despite TurboJET denying the news in a statement, on September 29, a video online showed that Balsa has been scrapped in Wang Tak. The group noticed that Flores has been moved to Wang Tak on or before October 9. Therefore, the group is worried that “the first jetfoil may come to an end very soon.”
In a reply to an enquiry by the Jetfoil Conservation Concern Group, Paul Lewis, Director Asia Pacific Communications, Boeing, commented that he was “sorry to hear about the sad demise of Jetfoil One.”
He added that Boeing’s historic services “might be interested in getting the data plate or any other small significant that could be retrieved.”
The Jetfoil Conservation Concern Group consists of “enthusiasts from Hong Kong and Macau.” The group focuses on publicizing the history of Jetfoil and transportation between Hong Kong and Macau through “interesting approaches.” PC
In the mid-70s Stanley Ho bought two jetfoils; hull numbers 002 and 005. Jetfoil 002 was the first to enter commercial service in Hong Kong, starting its run in April 1975. At that time FEH operated 11 surface-piercing hydrofoils, 4 PT-50, 4 RHS 110, and 3 PT 75/RHS 160. There was also conventional ship service, mainly at night, and a competing hydrofoil company. When a Jetfoil service in Hawaii was terminated Far East Hydrofoils offered to buy their 3 Jetfoils for more than the original price, this included Flores, the very first jetfoil to be made, and the vessel that pioneered the engineering behind one of the most commercially successful fast ferry enterprises to date. The full jetfoil story can be read here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hong-kongs-boeing-jetfoils-nick-shearman/?trackingId=aLyrvKD3rpBqHdCWPAhYlw%3D%3D