IT HAS not been 'plane sailing' for the Airfish 8, which rides on a cushion of air, like a hovercraft. Back in 2003, when it arrived here, no operating licence was issued.

Essentially, its Singaporean owner, Wigetworks, had difficulty fulfilling certain conditions even before a sea trial could be looked into.

Wigetworks is now making another bid to register the eight-seater as a marine craft.

The company is finally getting the help of the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) to find a site for its sea trials.

Wigetworks hopes to produce more copies of it here, for a market it believes is out there.

But the seven-year-old Airfish 8 must first secure an operating licence from the MPA.

It is, for now, in five pieces, packed into three crates, lying in the Creative Technology building in Jurong East.

The German-engineered Airfish 8 is technically a 'ground-effect vehicle' that rides 2m to 3m above surfaces like the sea or desert.

While it can be likened to a hovercraft, how the air cushion is created differs.
A hovercraft uses the fan from an aircraft engine to do this, but because it is a fuel guzzler, it was a commercial flop.

The Airfish 8 uses a petrol-powered car engine, and is thus much less fuel-thirsty. It relies on natural aerodynamics to produce its air cushion when it has reached speeds of between 90 kmh and 170kmh.

With the craft's comparative agility and much cheaper operating and maintenance costs, countries like the United States are now considering it for military use.

The Airfish 8 can cover 200km to 500km without refuelling. The road distance from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur is about 300km. That is why Wigetworks director Ng Kim Hoo, 53, is excited about the vessel's prospects.

It was, in fact, cruising Australian waters for three years before its owners' business failed.

Wigetworks, in which local computer company Creative has "more than a 5 per cent" stake, bought over the business in 2003, and sent the Airfish 8 here.

But difficulties in getting the operating licence drove the company to Thailand last year.

Said Mr Ng: "But there was red tape there. We had to come back to Singapore in July this year."

The company is also in talks with the Economic Development Board (EDB). In response to queries from The Straits Times, the EDB said it was "unable to comment at this time".

The Singapore Armed Forces said it has no ground-effect vehicles. Asked if it was considering acquiring or developing the technology, it said it was "always looking at new ways to improve our operations".

Mr Ng hopes to see a made-in-Singapore label for the Airfish 8. But if the company's plans to manufacture it here for the global market fail again, he said he may have to take it to China, Malaysia or Indonesia.

"We are a Singapore company. We want to keep the intellectual property here," he said.

Meanwhile, the South Korean government announced late last month that it was investing 84.5 billion won (S$134 million) over the next five years to develop such a vessel.