Uber in the sky?

[pbrower2a]

(Reuters)

LISBON (Reuters) - Uber is taking part in a joint industry and government push with NASA to develop software which the company aims to use to manage “flying taxi” routes that could work like ride-hailing services it has popularized on the ground.

Uber said on Wednesday it was the first formal services contract by the U.S. National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) covering low-altitude airspace rather than outer space. NASA has used such contracts to develop rockets since the late 1950s.

Chief Product Officer Jeff Holden also said Uber would begin testing proposed four-passenger, 200-miles-per-hour (322-km-per-hour) flying taxi services across Los Angeles in 2020, its second planned test market after Dallas/Fort Worth.

Uber has faced regulatory and legal battles around the world since it launched taxi-hailing services earlier this decade, including in London where it is appealing against a decision to strip it of its license due to safety concerns.

Holden described Uber’s latest air taxi plans at Web Summit, an internet conference in Lisbon, where he emphasized it was working to win approval from aviation regulators well ahead of introducing such services.

“There is a reality that Uber has grown up a lot as a company,” Holden said in an interview ahead of his speech. “We are now a major company on the world stage and you can’t do things the same way where you are a large-scale, global company that you can do when you are a small, scrappy startup.” 

Rest of the article here.

[pbrower2a]

Comment that I placed elsewhere:

Aircraft as taxis? I'm surprised that it hasn't been done. Much of the business would be to connect people in rural areas to commercial airports. Let's consider the town of Lemmon, South Dakota, once known as the smallest town in the United States with scheduled air service. (That's back in the day when one might have a five-stop flight between New York and Los Angeles, with stops at Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Oklahoma City, and Albuquerque along the way. Nearest cities that have connections to the East and West Coasts and the Golf Coast would be what -- Denver and Omaha? (OK, Smarty-Pants. There would need to be a passport check at Winnipeg, and Uber pilots might not be t he sorts that you would want to deputize to check passports).

Or you want to get between East Lansing and South Bend for a game between the Michigan State Spartans and Notre Dame Fighting Irish. You could fly from Lansing (after driving through one of the communities I least like driving through -- East Lansing, Michigan. When I drive I assume that every pedestrian is a fool, and except for drunks, college students are the most reckless pedestrians you will ever meet), get to the Lansing Airport on the other side of Lansing, then fly to Chicago, and take a flight to South Bend and a cab to Notre Dame. Naw. I might as south and west on I-69 to the Indiana Toll Road.

I am not sure that private aircraft quite fit the business model for Uber. But here's the big thing: many small airports that no longer get commercial traffic or have never had it would have to become passenger terminals.

There's much secondary business around airports -- including cab companies, rental-car services, and hotels. Those work well in a city the size of Kalamazoo or South Bend. But would they appear at slightly-used airports in communities of 10-25 thousand? I doubt it. In the town in which I live, the airport (now largely used by private pilots) is on the side of town opposite where the motels are. The highway interchange is on the north side and the small airport is on the south side. Building even an airstrip on the north side of town would require an expensive millage, and people have other concerns (like schools) than someone wanting to take an impromptu flight to ... let us say, Chicago, Detroit, or Indianapolis.