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July 03, 2013

Car Service App Uber Expands into Private Helicopter Sector

By Frances Litvak, Contributing Writer

San Francisco start-up and car service app, Uber, has made quite the impact on Manhattan as well as other cities where it’s present. Not only has it raised more than $11 million in venture capital, but as it becomes more popular on the New York Island, several dozen more SUV partners have been licensed to drive from Westhampton to Montauk.



Uber-users interested in traveling from the city into the Hamptons pay a minimum fare of $50 ($25 minimum in Manhattan) with a rate of $6.50 per mile (compared to $5 per mile in Manhattan). Uber offers flat rates from the city to the Hamptons starting at $300 for its Uber X vehicles and $500 for SUVs.

Targeting a wealthier clientele is now also part of Uber’s latest business move. Starting July 3, from 12pm to 8pm on Wednesdays, the company will now pilot a helicopter service called Uberchopper. An SUV will pick up the client, take the client to the closest helipad where he or she will board the helicopter. The helicopter will land in East Hampton where the client is greeted by another SUV.

The price for five seats on the Uberchopper is a whopping $3,000.

Why expand into the narrow market of one percenter's?  According to company officials, the idea for Uberchopper came about as a cost-effective solution for dependable pick-ups in minutes. The company also recently cut the cost of its UberX service in San Francisco in an effort to be more competitive with ride sharing apps like Lyft and SideCar.

The Uberchopper will be operational for only one day. Says Josh Mohrer, the company’s general manager in New York: "It's an experiment, and like all of our experiments, we'll look at the data and see if demand is strong enough to do this more frequently.”




Edited by Stefania Viscusi
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