image: flyblade.com
Blade, an app that makes it easy for travelers between New York City and the Hamptons to book helicopter rides, is partnering with Uber, the car-service app, this week. The Blade service enables users to either book a seat on a scheduled flight or “pick the time you want to fly and crowdsource your own flight.” If the one-day test with Uber, on Wednesday, goes well, the helicopter flights may become a regular feature of Uber. “I would see this as an experiment,” Josh Mohrer, Uber’s general manager for New York, told The New York Times. “If the response from people who use the Uber app is very strong, and users suggest doing it every weekend, we can make that happen.”
Evan Licht, the general manager of Blade, told the Times the helicopter-booking paradigm is overdue for an update. “It literally hasn’t been touched in 50 years,” he said. “There’s no brand. We saw an opportunity to create an experience like no other in the short-haul aviation world.” The New York flights go for about $500 per seat and up, and are booked on flights operated by Liberty Helicopters.
