Millions of Jakartans spend hours a day sitting in gridlock, wondering how to better avoid what has been officially declared the world’s worst traffic. They’ll surely be snarling at the answer cruising above their heads: helicopters.

Indonesia’s super-rich can fly into the airport by chartered jet, jump into a helicopter to the city for a meeting, and even whizz over to a hospital roof for a doctor’s visit – all without touching a road.

One of the country’s biggest conglomerates, Lippo Group, started using its own helicopters to ferry executives around in 1997, and now flies six aircraft from its headquarters west of the capital.

What is usually a two-hour trip into the centre of the city takes me only 12 minutes in Lippo’s eight-seater, flying over multilane highways all filled with bumper-to-bumper traffic.

After landing on the roof of one of Lippo’s hotels, Muliawan Sutanto, senior finance adviser for the group’s flight division, Air Pacific, explains that three helicopters are kept on standby for the group’s bosses. They also are used for medical evacuations – while for a minimum of $1,500, anyone can pay for a private charter, or “helimousine”.

I found one way to avoid Jakarta traffic... #GuardianJakarta pic.twitter.com/aXDTRrsyY0 — Oliver Holmes (@olireports) November 20, 2016

That figure feels less preposterous the longer one spends in Jakarta, where a study last year found drivers sit for nearly a third of their time idle in jams. They also stop and start more than anywhere else.

Even if you avoid private cars, the city’s public transport system is particularly inefficient. A long-planned metro line is finally being built after decades of planning. In the meantime, the construction has blocked traffic along the capital’s main roads.



Helicopters, perhaps surprisingly, also require infrastructure – and in that respect, Jakarta is also lacking: “There are about 60 helipads in the city, but most are not certified for landing,” Sutanto says.

Keeping a helipad operational requires regular maintenance and repainting. To use them at night, it is mandatory to install expensive navigational beacons. At the moment, only eight are legal, most of them owned by Lippo.

Jakarta’s main commercial airport does not allow private helicopter use either, so you’ll need to charter a flight to the other aerodrome, east of the city.

Still, some believe there is a potential market. Uber, the ride-hailing app company, has been debuting helicopters rides from New York to São Paulo. It treated some residents to a free trip in Jakarta last year in a PR push, working with another local provider, PremiAir, but has not set up a service since.

Sutanto admits some of Air Pacific’s regulars have been cancelling as the domestic economy splutters, mainly due to low commodity prices. Someone flew in from Google recently and hired a helicopter, and politicians have been known to rent an aircraft to accommodate tight campaigning schedules, but business is not exactly booming.

“People used to buy a block of helicopter time, like 30 hours to use when they want,” Sutanto says. “But it’s slowed down. A mining company that worked with us cut down so-called ‘unnecessary expenses’.

“A few other companies tried to open heli-taxi services a few years ago – but the demand is not there,” he adds. Lippo now provides free access to its rooftop helipads in an attempt to jumpstart the industry.

“People in Indonesia are reluctant to pay. They will still sit in the car for hours and hours – but that will change. The traffic is getting much worse.”

If you live or work in Jakarta, we’d love to hear from you. Share your ideas, thoughts, stories and pictures here. You can also contribute on Twitter andInstagramusing the hashtag #GuardianJakarta