Photo: Airbus
Uber plans to take the ride-hailing services to a whole new level, as the San Francisco-based company just partnered up with aerospace giant Airbus. Thanks to this new project, Uber users will be able to get to their destination by helicopter.
With a budget of $150 million, the newly-formed Airbus Ventures plans to “identify and invest in the most visionary entrepreneurs in the global aerospace ecosystem,” the French company stated.
Airbus will provide on-demand transportation service using its H125 and H130 helicopters. This move will also help helicopter operators to access a broader customer base.
Those present at the Sundance Film Festival will be the first ones to use this service, as according to a Uber spokesman, helicopters will make it easier for attendees to navigate the event.
This is not the first time Uber offers helicopter rides, as it did it several times before, but never as part of a permanent service option. In 2013, the company offered rides from Manhattan to the Hamptons, as it did during the United States Formula 1 Grand Prix in Austin.
Neither of the two companies revealed how much you will have to pay if you plan to get to your destination in style, but given the method of transportation, don’t expect it to be very cheap. In the case of the Hamptons rides, for instance, each customer had to paid $3,000.
This project helps Airbus revive a business segment that wasn’t at its best in recent years since the company’s helicopter sales dropped heavily in 2015, CNBC reports.
If the French company didn’t do so well in the chopper selling sector, when talking about aircrafts, Airbus exceeded its target for 2015, by delivering no less than 635 planes to 80 customers, of which 10 are new.
News of the partnership will likely make Blade very nervous, as the startup company is like an Uber for helicopters and small aircraft, and from now on, it will have serious competition.
Airbus will provide on-demand transportation service using its H125 and H130 helicopters. This move will also help helicopter operators to access a broader customer base.
Those present at the Sundance Film Festival will be the first ones to use this service, as according to a Uber spokesman, helicopters will make it easier for attendees to navigate the event.
This is not the first time Uber offers helicopter rides, as it did it several times before, but never as part of a permanent service option. In 2013, the company offered rides from Manhattan to the Hamptons, as it did during the United States Formula 1 Grand Prix in Austin.
Neither of the two companies revealed how much you will have to pay if you plan to get to your destination in style, but given the method of transportation, don’t expect it to be very cheap. In the case of the Hamptons rides, for instance, each customer had to paid $3,000.
This project helps Airbus revive a business segment that wasn’t at its best in recent years since the company’s helicopter sales dropped heavily in 2015, CNBC reports.
If the French company didn’t do so well in the chopper selling sector, when talking about aircrafts, Airbus exceeded its target for 2015, by delivering no less than 635 planes to 80 customers, of which 10 are new.
News of the partnership will likely make Blade very nervous, as the startup company is like an Uber for helicopters and small aircraft, and from now on, it will have serious competition.
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