Passengers Can Now Book A Flight On An App In The San Francisco Bay Area

Voom has launched helicopter-based air taxi services in its first U.S. market. The company is expanding its concept to the San Francisco Bay area this fall, according to the company.

Voom is an on-demand helicopter shuttle provider that works a lot like Uber does for ground-based transportation, though passengers have to get themselves to a heliport where the service is offered to catch their ride, rather than having a helo land at their location. The blog Fast Company reports that the service has launched with flights between five regional airports in the San Francisco area ranging from $147 to $249 for trips lasting from seven to 14 minutes. The Voom website confirms the report.

Voom, which is owned largely by Airbus, eventually plans to offer its services using eVTOL aircraft similar to those proposed by Uber Elevate and Blade. Voom CEO Clément Monnet says such technology should be practical in about 10 years.

Voom launched in 2017 in Sao Paulo, Brazil and expanded into Mexico City in 2018. It has not announced in what other U.S. cities it plans to offer services, but additional that expansion is coming. Monnet said that the company expects to be flying some 2 million passengers in 25 cities around the world by 2025.

Blade is a five-year-old company that operates in several U.S. markets, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. Airbus is also a principal investor in that company. Uber plans to launch a helicopter service between lower Manhattan and New York's JFK airport early next month.

FMI: Source report