Blade (company)

Fly BLADE, Inc.

Type	Private
Industry	Technology, Transportation, Aviation
Founded	May 2014
Founder	Rob Wiesenthal, Steve Martocci
Headquarters	New York City, United States
Key people	Brandon Keene Evan Licht Kathleen McCormack Melissa Tomkiel
Services	Mobile Application, Helicopter Transfer, Helicopter Charter, Scheduled air service, SaaS Aviation Technologies
Number of employees	24
Website	flyblade.com

Overview

Blade is a digitally-powered aviation company based in New York City.^[1] BLADE allows users to create their own crowdsourced flights or purchase seats on pre-existing flights between Manhattan, the Hamptons, Nantucket, the Jersey Shore, Miami and all NYC surrounding airports.^[2]

Blade’s mobile platform bridges the needs of consumers and aviation operators to reduce the cost of air travel on private aircraft by maximizing passenger capacity utilization.^[3]

All Blade flights are operated by FAA-certified and DOT-licensed air carriers. (reference) Bloomberg

BLADE Launched Memorial Day (May 26) of 2014, Blade began arranging flights to the Hamptons. Originally offering three routes, with service between Manhattan, Southampton, East Hampton, and Montauk, all operated by Liberty Helicopters.^[4]

As of November 2016, Blade utilizes 11 operators in 22 destinations.^[5]

Core Routes and Lounge Footprint

Since inception, Blade has rapidly grown its footprint of private lounges. The company currently operates six lounges in three states,^[6] including four in Manhattan, one in Nantucket^[7] and the Largest Blade Lounge which is located at the Opa Locka Executive Airport in Miami.

In November 2014, Blade launched Blade Bounce,^[8] an airport transfer product that enables travelers to book a six-seat helicopter for departure in as little as 20 minutes.^[9] Bounce flies between Manhattan and all surrounding metropolitan airports (JFK, Newark Liberty, LaGuardia, Teterboro, and Westchester).^[10] The trip itself takes approximately five minutes, versus roughly an hour by car.^[11] In Fall 2017, Blade began to offer Blade Bounce by the seat for $295 for flights from Manhattan to JFK.^[12]

Flight Duration for Key Routes

Customers are able to create flights or book single seats for crowdsourced helicopter, seaplane, turboprop plane and jet travel.^[13]

Jet Service

In December 2015, Blade expanded its offerings and launched BLADEone, a seasonal a by-the-seat jet service between Manhattan and Miami. 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.^[14]

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.^[15]

In November 2016, Blade announced their second season of BLADEone. Utilizing a Bombardier CRJ 200 commercial airline jet typically configured for 60 passengers, but retrofitted for 16.^[16]

BLADEone uniforms were designed by Cynthia Rowley and Sarah Jessica Parker and dubbed as the “chicest uniforms of all time".^[17]

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.^[18]

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.^[19]

Activations

Over the 2014 July 4th 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.^[20]

To avoid gridlock midtown traffic during the UN General Assembly and Pope Francis’s visit to NYC in 2015, BLADE offered a 6 minute^[21] cross town shuttle departing every 15 minutes.^[22]

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.^[23]

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^[24] and offered heli transfers from Salt Lake City International Airport to the property,^[25] 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.^[26] Notable passengers included The Chainsmokers, Tiesto and Deadmau5.^[27]

At Coachella Music 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.^[28]

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.^[29]

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.^[30]

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^[31] 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,^[32] BLADE offered an exclusive Hamptons Getaway Kit for purchase on the luxury e-tailers site,^[33] 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.^[34]

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.^[35]

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.^[36]

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.^[37]

In November 2016, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals declared that the three ordinances^[38] 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.^[39]

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, he or she opens the app and selects an existing flight to join at a time that works for them. If no times work for the passenger, he or she 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