Uber to integrate Joby’s Blade helicopter and seaplane trips into its ecosystem

Air taxi manufacturer and operator Joby Aviation has announced that ride-hailing service Uber will add its Blade helicopter service to the platform.

Joby, which acquired Blade’s passenger operations in August, will let Uber users book Blade trips directly in the Uber app. Blade offers short helicopter rides as well as seaplane trips across various routes in the New York City metropolitan area and southern Europe. It has also announced plans to expand to trips using Joby’s S4 electric air taxi.

“We’re excited to introduce Uber customers to the magic of seamless urban air travel,” Joby’s founder and CEO, JoeBen Bevirt, said. “Integrating Blade into the Uber app is the natural next step in our global partnership with Uber and will lay the foundation for the introduction of our quiet, zero-emissions aircraft in the years ahead.”

The S4 eVTOL, or electric vertical take-off and landing air taxi, has room for one pilot and four passengers, along with ample room for luggage. Once approvals are obtained, the service will allow for short-range fully electric off-highway journeys between cities and towns while traveling at speeds of up to 200 mph (322 km/h).

In the last full year of operations, calendar year 2024, Blade flew more than 50,000 passengers across a network of routes in the New York metropolitan area and Southern Europe. This included high-traffic destinations such as Newark Liberty International Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport in Manhattan as well as the Hamptons on the East End of Long Island.

A Joby Aviation executive who was not authorized to speak on the record said that the move to Uber’s ecosystem would sooner rather than later encompass eVTOL air-taxi trips.

Uber and Joby have been collaborating on and off since 2019, starting with a partnership on the eVTOL technology. In 2020, Joby acquired Uber’s Elevate unit, which had been developing an “urban air mobility” product, while Uber invested an additional $75 million in Joby, bringing Uber’s total investment in the company to $125 million.

Source: Joby Aviation

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