Blade (company)

BLADE Air Mobility, Inc. (stylized "BLADE") is a publicly traded company in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. It offers an urban air mobility platform. It allows users of its app to book seats on scheduled flights throughout the Northeast and West Coast of the United States, and also arrange private charter flights.

Although the Blade logo is emblazoned on some black-painted aircraft (most of which are helicopters), the company does not own or operate the aircraft. The aircraft are owned and operated by third parties and operate as Air Charters. Blade also operates hospitality suites in black-painted buildings at various heliport sites.

The app permits flyers to book a seat on what appears to be a scheduled flight at a set price but is in fact air charters. Previously flyers had to find a charter and then negotiate a price and determine how to split the cost with other passengers.

Its annual report in December 2021 listed 133 employees (73 full time/60 part time).

History

2014-2016

Blade was founded by Robert S. Wiesenthal and launched on Memorial Day (May 26) of 2014, with service between Manhattan, Southampton, East Hampton, and Montauk.

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.

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. Seating 12 passengers, the service aims to offer an experience that is far more luxurious than conventional air travel, including amenities such as meals designed by gourmet chefs.

In September 2015 during the UN General Assembly and Pope Francis’s visit to NYC in 2015, Blade offered a 6 minute cross town shuttle departing every 15 minutes.

In November 2016, Blade announced their second season of BLADEone, utilizing a Bombardier CRJ 200 commercial airline jet typically configured for 65 passengers, but retrofitted for 16. BLADEone uniforms were designed by Cynthia Rowley and Sarah Jessica Parker and dubbed as the “chicest uniforms of all time". In partnership with the Faena Hotel Blade again launched their One-Click weekend. For passengers who booked two round trip flights on BLADEone, a complimentary room at the Faena was included in addition to ground transportation between the hotel and Blade Lounge Miami.

BLADEone offered direct service between New York City and Aspen, being the only direct service between those two locations. A 14-passenger Gulfstream G400 operates this flight.

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 and offered heli transfers from Salt Lake City International Airport to the property, 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. Notable passengers included The Chainsmokers, Tiesto and Deadmau5.

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.

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.

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 where drinks and lunch were included and a flight home the same afternoon.

2017-2019

In 2017 Blade offered 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.

In 2017 it partnered with Velocity and Sessanta restaurant for a Valentine's Day package which included drinks at the Blade Lounge, a helicopter downtown, ground transportation and dinner.

In 2017 it began service between Manhattan and The Hamptons and to more than 20 camps in Maine, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and upstate New York.

In December 2018, Blade announced its 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, launched in Fall 2019, enables fliers to travel by helicopter between Blade Lounges at convenient urban heliports, avoiding large commercial airports entirely and transforming unpredictable four to eight hours drives into short 35-minute flights. Initial routes connect the cities of Juhu and Mahalaxmi with heliports in Pune and Shirdi.

2020-present

In 2020 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.

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

On May 7, 2021, Blade became the first publicly traded urban air mobility company. In listing the company it changed its name from Blade Urban Air Mobility to Blade Air Mobility.

The stock offering was handled through the merger of Special-purpose acquisition company Experience Investment Corp. (sponsored by KSL Capital Partners) with BLADE Urban Air Mobility, Inc. The new company became BLADE Air Mobility. BLADE Urban Air became a wholly-owned subsidiary.

In May 2022, it was announced Blade had acquired the asset-light commercial passenger transport activities of three European urban air mobility operators - Monacair SAM, Héli Sécurité and another leading helicopter operator in the South of France.

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.

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.

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. There were no passengers on board. The pilot was uninjured and immediately exited the aircraft after landing. At the time of the incident, the helicopter was being repositioned for fueling by the operator and was not flying for Blade.

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

{{Helicopter airlines

Urban air mobility
American companies established in 2014
Companies based in New York City
Companies listed on the Nasdaq
2014 establishments in New York City