Blade (company)

Blade Urban Air Mobility, Inc. (stylized "BLADE") is a technology-powered, global urban air mobility platform based in New York City[1] committed to reducing travel friction by enabling cost-effective air transportation alternatives to some of the most congested ground routes in the U.S. and abroad. Blade offers book by the seat on scheduled flights services throughout the Northeast and West Coast metropolitan areas.[2] Fly to a number of scheduled destinations or crowdsource to anywhere in the world.[3] The Blade app allows users to book ad-hoc and crowdsourced charter flights.

"BLADE" redirects here. For the tool, weapon, or machine, see Blade. For other uses, see Blade (disambiguation).
Blade Urban Air Mobility, Inc.
TypePrivate
IndustryTechnology, Transportation, Aviation
FoundedMay 2014
FounderRob Wiesenthal, Steve Martocci
Headquarters
New York City
,
United States
Key people
  • Brandon Keene
  • Sean Grennan
  • Melissa Tomkiel
  • Alix Oliver
ServicesMobile application, Helicopter transfer, Helicopter charter, Scheduled air service, SaaS aviation technologies
Number of employees
50+
Websiteflyblade.com

Blade launched on Memorial Day (May 26) of 2014, with service between Manhattan, Southampton, East Hampton, and Montauk.[4]

Core routes and lounge footprint

The company currently operates seven lounges in three states,[3] including four in Manhattan, one in Nantucket,[5] one in Westchester, and a seaplane lounge in downtown Miami.

Blade Airport,[6] an airport transfer product that enables travelers to book a six-seat helicopter for departure in as little as 20 minutes.[7] Blade Airport flies between Manhattan and all surrounding metropolitan airports (JFK, Newark Liberty, LaGuardia, Teterboro, and Westchester).[8] The trip itself takes approximately five minutes, versus roughly an hour by car.[9]

BLADEone is a seasonal scheduled jet service operating by-the-seat flights between Manhattan and Miami or Aspen from November to mid-April. BLADEone is a commercial-sized jet with reduced seat density. Passengers enjoy full in-air service by two Blade SKYcx cabin attendants, preloaded tablets with first-run movies, in-flight dining from our restaurant partners, including caviar service from Pearl Street Caviar. Once boarded, all passengers receive Dopp kits filled with carefully selected next-generation personal care products.

Blade Hamptons lets you bypass highway gridlock, flying you in comfort to the Hamptons. Seasonal commuter passes are offered with a new, flexible rollover policy.

Flight duration for key routes

Customers are able to create flights or book single seats for crowdsourced helicopter, seaplane, turboprop plane and jet travel.[10]

Route Duration
Manhattan – Southampton 30 minutes
Manhattan – East Hampton 37 minutes
Manhattan – Montauk 55 minutes
Manhattan – Nantucket 90 minutes
Manhattan – Teterboro Airport 5 minutes
Manhattan – Westchester Airport 12 minutes
Manhattan – John F. Kennedy Airport 5 minutes
Manhattan – Newark International Airport 6 minutes
Manhattan – Laguardia Airport 4 minutes
Manhattan – Atlantic City 40 minutes
Manhattan – Monmouth 15 minutes

Jet service

In December 2015, Blade expanded its offerings and launched BLADEone, a seasonal by-the-seat jet service between Manhattan and Miami or Manhattan and Aspen. Utilizing a Gulfstream IV jet, the inaugural flight took place on December 3 in conjunction with Art Basel. Each of the 12 individual captain's seats come with their own iPad Pros, which have been preloaded with first run films. Flight attendants wore uniforms designed by Tamara Mellon and served cocktails and a meal designed by chef Todd English. On board amenity kits were designed by Jack Spade, suede slippers by Del Toro, skin care products by La Mer, toothbrush by Quip among several other amenities.[11]

Later in the season Blade introduced the Setai One-Click Miami Weekend, a collaboration between the aviation company and the Setai Hotel. Included was a round-trip flight from Westchester County Airport to Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport on BLADEone and a two-night stay in a suite at the Setai, round-trip helicopter transfers to Westchester County Airport from Blade's Manhattan lounge and airport transfers in a Bentley between Blade Lounge Miami and The Setai.[12]

In November 2016, Blade announced their second season of BLADEone. Utilizing a Bombardier CRJ 200 commercial airline jet typically configured for 50 passengers, but retrofitted for 16.[13] BLADEone uniforms were designed by Cynthia Rowley and Sarah Jessica Parker and dubbed as the “chicest uniforms of all time".[14] In partnership with the Faena Hotel Blade again launched their One-Click weekend. For passengers who book two round trip flights on BLADEone a complimentary room at the Faena will be included in addition to ground transportation between the hotel and Blade Lounge Miami.[13]

Currently, BLADEone exclusively uses Bombardier CRJ 200s for their New York - Miami service The BLADEone aircraft normally accommodates 65 passengers and has been retrofitted for only 8 passengers on each side of the fuselage—so every seat is both an aisle and a window seat. Passengers enjoy full in-air service by two Blade SKYcx cabin attendants, preloaded tablets with first-run movies, in-flight dining from our restaurant partners, including caviar service from Pearl Street Caviar. Once boarded, all passengers receive Paravel Dopp kits filled with carefully selected next-generation personal care products.

BLADEone service is also available between Manhattan and Aspen and is the only way to fly directly between the New York area and Aspen. With the Gulfstream G400s masterfully reconfigured to accommodate 14 fliers, 7 seats on each side, every seat is both an isle and a window seat. Save up to six hours on your trip, meaning you'll go straight to the mountain and enjoy all that Aspen has to offer.

Charter operations

In May 2015, Blade launched their aircraft charter operations under moniker Blade Anywhere. Blade anywhere offers charter service between any domestic or international location by utilizing its accessible fleet of helicopters, seaplanes, turboprops and jets.[15]

Activations

Over the 2014 Fourth of July weekend, Blade partnered with Uber to power UberChopper, a service that allowed Uber users to book a helicopter through their mobile application to The Hamptons.[16]

To avoid gridlock midtown traffic during the UN General Assembly and Pope Francis’s visit to NYC in 2015, Blade offered a 6 minute[17] cross town shuttle departing every 15 minutes.[18]

In partnership with Velocity and Sessanta restaurant, Blade offered a Valentine's Day package which included drinks at the Blade Lounge, a helicopter downtown, ground transportation and dinner.[19]

During the 2016 Sundance Film Festival Blade provided jet service on the BLADEone jet between NYC and the festival. They created a lounge located in a residence on a private farm[20] and offered heli transfers from Salt Lake City International Airport to the property,[20] located minutes from downtown.

During the 2016 Ultra Music Festival in Miami, Florida, Blade partnered with Yachtlife to power a by-the-seat boat shuttle between South Beach and the Artist Dock at the festival.[21] Notable passengers included The Chainsmokers, Tiesto and Deadmau5.[22]

At the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2016, Blade partnered with Uber to offer Uberchopper powered by Blade, a helicopter service between Los Angeles and Coachella Valley at the Thermal Airport.[23]

In partnership with Uber Boston, Blade launched Uber Air over Memorial Day 2016 with scheduled flights between Boston and the Blade Lounge in Nantucket. Utilizing a nine-passenger Cessna Grand Caravan turboprop plane from Boston to the island, Blade was able to cover the 90-mile distance in 40 minutes.[24]

In an effort to capture numerous Tri-State area parents who typically drive between 5 and 8 hours to visit their children on camp visiting day Blade offered crowdsourced flights between Manhattan or The Hamptons and more than 20 camps in Maine, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and upstate New York.[25]

In August 2016, Blade partnered with T-Mobile to create a same-day Hamptons beach experience. Flights departed Sunday mornings to East Hampton Airport where ground transportation brought passengers to the T-Mobile beach lounge[26] where drinks and lunch were included and a flight home the same afternoon. Alleviating the need for expensive overnight stays.

In conjunction with the launch of Net-A-Porter same-day delivery to The Hamptons,[27] Blade offered an exclusive Hamptons Getaway Kit for purchase on the luxury e-tailers site,[28] the kit includes two one-way Blade tickets to The Hamptons along with a specially selected kit of summer travel essentials featuring brands like Smythson and Friends.[29]

Blade is the first helicopter company to offer service to Woodbury Commons premium outlet mall. Launching over Black Friday Blade offered flights to and from the Simon-owned property between Thanksgiving and Christmas.[30]

Blade partnered with NYU Langone Medical Center to offer life saving organ transplant flights in August 2019. The program is currently run by Nate Alexander, Hunter Senning, Jack O'Neill & Matt Brody, operates under the moniker Blade MediMobility. The program has successfully transported over 250 organs since its summer launch.[31]

In partnership with Andrew Saffir, creator of The Cinema Society, Blade hosted a socially distanced, drive-in premier of Disney+'s 'Artemis Fowl' June 2020. The drive-in raised over $200,000 for All For The East End's Feed The Need Campaign.[32]

In November 2020, Blade becomes the first aviation company to require pre-boarding coronavirus testing for flights within the United States. The tests are distributed by CrowdRX, a division of Global Medical Response.[33]

Investors

Blade to become publicly listed on NASDAQ through a business combination with Experience Investment Corp. (NASDAQ: EXPC), a public entity sponsored by an affiliate of KSL Capital Partners, following expected transaction close in the first half of 2021. Transaction values Blade at an estimated pro forma equity value of $825 million upon consummation. Urban air mobility is expected to be a $125 billion market by 2025 and grow to $650 billion over the next decade, according to Morgan Stanley Equity Research.

The capital raised will enable the Company to expand new urban air mobility routes, its network of captive passenger infrastructure, as well as its consumer-to-cockpit technology stack, accelerating its transition from use of conventional aircraft to Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (“eVTOL”) aircraft

Blade India

In December 2018, Blade announced their intentions to launch an Urban Air Mobility Pilot Program in India. Blade is operating the service in partnership with equity investment firm Hunch Ventures. Blade India, launching Fall 2019, will enable fliers to helicopter between Blade Lounges being constructed at convenient urban heliports, avoiding large commercial airports entirely as they transform unpredictable four to eight hours drives into short 35-minute flights. Initial routes will connect the cities of Juhu and Mahalaxmi with heliports in Pune and Shirdi.[34]

Opposition

There has been pushback within The Hamptons community against increased air traffic at the local East Hampton Airport. Opponents claim that noise levels have increased as a direct result of increased air traffic.

East Hampton Airport has long been owned and operated by the local municipality. This detail has caused a significant rift in the community, as politicians and residents fight over whether to accept Federal Aviation Administration funds or not. Recently, the Town of East Hampton reached an agreement with the FAA to self-fund the airport, allowing them to impose stricter rules on air traffic.[35]

On April 16, 2015, The Town of East Hampton voted to adopt strict laws limiting air traffic in and out of the East Hampton Airport. Beginning summer of 2015, there was a ban on all flights from 11:00PM to 7:00AM. Any aircraft that fell under the Town's classification of “noisy” (aircraft with an Effective Perceived Noise in Decibels EPNdB approach level of 91.0 or greater) was forbidden from taking off or landing from 8:00PM to 9:00AM all year and was limited to one landing and one takeoff per week. There is currently a lawsuit against the FAA for its part in waiving grant assurances that allowed the Town to enact these rules.[36]

In November 2016, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals declared that the three ordinances[37] that the town put into place a year ago in order to rein in noise and activity at the airport illegal. The ordinance that included a curfew on all noisy high-decibel aircraft between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m. is no more. The ordinance that restricted noisy aircraft to just one trip a week is no more. The ordinance that required a curfew on all aircraft traffic between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. is no more.[38]

Accidents and incidents

On May 15, 2019, a Bell 206 helicopter operated by Zip Aviation, made an emergency landing on floats on the water near the W. 30th Street Heliport in NYC, USA.[39] There were no passengers on board. [40] The pilot was uninjured and immediately exited the aircraft after landing.[41] At the time of the incident, the helicopter was being repositioned for fueling by the operator and was not flying for Blade[42] despite being painted in Blade colors.

Operations

Passengers must download the Blade app to their iOS or Android device, sign up for an account, and enter additional information such as a valid phone number and credit card details. When a passenger wants to fly, they open the app and select an existing flight to join at a time that works for them. If no times work for the passenger, they can crowdsource their own flight at a more convenient time; any remaining seats on a crowdsourced flight may then go on to be sold to other flyers through the digital community Blade provides in-app.

References
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  2. "Blade – The Sharpest Way to Fly". Blade. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  3. "Blade Announces the Second Season of BLADEone, the First Scheduled Private Jet Service Between New York City and Miami". PR Newswire (Press release). Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  4. "'Beats by Dre for Aviation': This App Will Helicopter You to the Hamptons (With a Maserati As Backup)". Daily Intelligencer. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  5. Jameson, Daniel. "This Summer, Book an Airplane Ticket—Through Uber". CNT. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  6. Hennessey, Rachel. "Blade App Will Now Fly You to Your Flight". Forbes. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  7. Frank, Robert (November 25, 2014). "Choppering to your private jet just got cheaper". CNBC. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  8. "Blade Bounce - Helicopter Airport Transfer Service - BLADE". Blade. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  9. Fox, Emily Jane (November 25, 2014). "How the .01% do Thanksgiving: helicoptering to private jets". CNN Money. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  10. "Fly from New York for Art Basel". Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  11. "'Uber for helicopters' startup Blade now offers private jet service to Miami, and it wants your flight to be as fun as your vacation". Business Insider. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  12. Vora, Shivani (March 2, 2016). "Tour and Hotel News: 'Downton Abbey' Trip; 'House of Cards' Stay". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  13. "Blade Unveils Retrofitted CRJ-200 for Flights to Miami". The Points Guy. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  14. "Sarah Jessica Parker and Cynthia Rowley Designed the Chicest Flight Attendant Uniforms of All Time". Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  15. "Blade Anywhere – Charter a Private Helicopter, Seaplane or Jet". Blade. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  16. Merced, Michael J. de la. "Blade, a Helicopter-Booking App, to Partner With Uber". The New York Times. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  17. "Need To Avoid Pope Traffic? Take A Helicopter For $95". Inside Edition. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  18. Sutherl, Amber; Fredericks, Bob (September 24, 2015). "Avoid papal traffic with a $95 helicopter ride". New York Post. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  19. "Take her to the moon (or the Lower East Side) with Blade's Valentine's Day extravaganza". Luxury Listings NYC. February 4, 2016. Archived from the original on January 31, 2017. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  20. Dobson, Jim (January 28, 2016). "The Best of Park City: Celebrities and Billionaires Flock to this Snowy Mountain Utah Escape". Forbes. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  21. "Blade announces speedboat transport to Ultra Music Festival - Dancing Astronaut". dancingastronaut.com. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  22. "Martin Garrix, Tiesto, Steve Aoki, DJ Snake Hit Ultra 2016 (Photos)". TheWrap. March 20, 2016. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  23. Atkinson, Claire (March 25, 2016). "Blade partners with Uber to offer helicopter rides to Coachella". New York Post. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  24. Jameson, Daniel. "This Summer, Book an Airplane Ticket—Through Uber". CNT. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  25. "Why Drive to Summer Camp When You Can Take a Helicopter?". Town & Country Magazine. July 15, 2016. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  26. "The Ultimate Day Trip". Blade. August 22, 2016. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  27. Euler, Laura (June 16, 2016). "Net-A-Porter and MR PORTER partner with Blade to the Hamptons". Curbed Hamptons. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  28. Harris, Taylor (June 15, 2016). "Net-a-porter, Mr Porter Partner With Blade". WWD. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  29. "Net-a-Porter & Mr. Porter Partner with Blade for the Ultimate in Stylish Convenience This Summer". Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  30. Atkinson, Claire; Fickenscher, Lisa (November 19, 2016). "Woodbury Common is hooking up shoppers with Black Friday helicopter rides". New York Post. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  31. Morgan, Richard. "Blade helicopter-sharing app to speed transplant organs". New York Post. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
  32. Weiss, Zachary. "Drive-In Movie Raises over $200,000 For East End Food Pantries". Dan’s Papers. Retrieved 2021-01-07.
  33. Gollan, Doug. "BLADE Adds Pre-Flight COVID Tests For Shared Private Jet Flights". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-01-07.
  34. Iyengar, Rishi (December 4, 2018). "A helicopter app for the wealthy plans to tackle Mumbai's traffic". CNN. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
  35. Ruiz, Michael. "As Season Nears, Helicopter Issue Roils Hamptons". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  36. "Aviation Groups Sue East Hampton Town In Effort To Block Recently Approved Airport Restrictions - East Hampton". Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  37. "Judge Upholds East Hampton Airport Noise Restrictions". www.danspapers.com. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  38. "Airport Chaos: Court Won't Enforce New East Hampton Airport Rules". www.danspapers.com. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  39. https://nypost.com/2019/05/15/helicopter-lands-in-hudson-river-near-34th-street/
  40. https://www.wsj.com/articles/helicopter-crashes-in-new-york-citys-hudson-river-no-one-is-hurt-11557949768
  41. https://twitter.com/NYPDSpecialops/status/1128743081837236226
  42. https://www.wsj.com/articles/helicopter-crashes-in-new-york-citys-hudson-river-no-one-is-hurt-11557949768
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