Blade Urban Air Mobility is expanding in the Los Angeles area to include by-the-seat helicopter routes and a new Downtown LA rooftop heliport lounge just steps from hotels such as The NoMad, Ritz Carlton and The Standard as well as the Staples Center. This development advances the company's mission of enhancing the reach and affordability of intra-city aviation.

“Since expanding our continuous flight service in Manhattan and San Francisco, we are seeing faster-than-expected adoption by people choosing to fly rather than drive,” says west coast general manager Shivani Parikh. “Additionally, Los Angeles is on the forefront of embracing multi-modality transportation options such as auto, bike and scooter shares as new ways of saving time. Blade is now enabling another mobility option; the ability to fly short-distances bypassing ground traffic on the way to work, home, the airport or to key leisure destinations.”

New helicopter routes are between key Los Angeles destinations including Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Blade Lounge DTLA, the LA Westside, Orange County and Burbank. Additionally, flights to Downtown Los Angeles will be conveniently scheduled for hockey and basketball games, as well as marquee concerts and events at the Staples Center. Flights starting at $195 per seat with flight times as short as five minutes.

Additionally, fliers who are connecting to or disembarking from a flight operated by American Airlines may opt to be escorted between the helicopter and their flight with American's Five Star Service, a meet-and-assist programme that provides an on-tarmac connection via American's Cadillac service at LAX and JFK airports.

Blade's LA operation utilises Airbus H130 helicopters and all flights strictly follow Los Angeles noise abatement routes, altitudes and best practices. Blade is also taking important steps in reducing its carbon footprint, having achieved carbon neutrality for the company in its entirety this past summer.

“Airbus Helicopters is an investor and partner of Blade and we are very happy to be partnering on Blade's expansion with our customers in Los Angeles,” says president and head of the North America region Romain Trapp. “The H130 is the perfect aircraft for this type of mission as it's the quietest in its class.”