Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Uber is going to use Airbus helicopters for its on-demand sky-taxi service

uber travis KALANICK

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick.

Uber is planning to fly people around a festival in Airbus helicopters, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Airbus chief executive Tom Enders told the newspaper that Uber is going to trial the European aerospace giant's choppers at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, USA, this week.

"Its a pilot project, we’ll see where it goes — but it’s pretty exciting," said Enders in an interview with the Journal at the Digital Life Design conference in Munich.

Uber confirmed to Business Insider that it is working with Airbus, adding that it wants to make it easier for people to get around Sundance.

An Airbus spokesperson said that Uber is using the Airbus H125 and H130 helicopters for the Sundance project, adding that Uber has partnered with Air Resources, a Utah-based operator of H125 helicopters, in order to deliver the service.

Airbus helicopter H130
The Airbus H125 Private & Business.
Airbus H130 helicopter
The Airbus H130 Stylence.

Uber's helicopter customers will be picked up in a car first and driven to their take off point, according to the Journal.

Uber started life as a taxi-hailing app in San Francisco but it has expanded its services to rickshaws in India and boats in Turkey, amongst other services. In 2013, Uber first tested its "UberChopper" service in New York between Manhattan and the Hamptons. It has also offered helicopter flights at Cannes Film Festival in France and Bonnaroo Arts Festival in Nashville, USA, where it teamed up with local helicopter company Helistar Aviation.

Prices for the UberChopper service have previously ranged from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars.

The financial details of the agreement between Uber and Airbus have not been disclosed.






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