For commuters who imagine soaring above Sao Paulo's notorious traffic jams, ride-hailing app Uber is offering to make that daydream a reality, starting at around $26.
Brazil's biggest city on Monday became the first in the world where Uber Technologies offers on-demand chopper rides between airports, hotels and convention centres.
With more than 400 aircraft and nearly as many helipads, Sao Paulo has a helicopter fleet that rivals those of New York and Tokyo, but commuting by air remains an option mostly for millionaires. Uber aims to change that with a month-long pilot program.
Promotional prices through to Thursday start at 66 reais ($26) per seat for a lift from Helicentro Morumbi, in one of Sao Paulo's richest neighbourhoods, to the Blue Tree hotel across the river. The distance is nearly 6km, as the chopper flies.
A ride from the Blue Tree Faria Lima onward to Guarulhos International Airport costs 271 ($105) reais during the promotion. A car can take one to three hours to make that trip, depending on traffic.
Uber experimented in recent years with helicopter rides to the Coachella and Bonnaroo music festivals from nearby US airports that cost as much as $US3000 ($4055) to book a full helicopter and door-to-door SUV rides.
Source: Financial Review
Brazil's biggest city on Monday became the first in the world where Uber Technologies offers on-demand chopper rides between airports, hotels and convention centres.
With more than 400 aircraft and nearly as many helipads, Sao Paulo has a helicopter fleet that rivals those of New York and Tokyo, but commuting by air remains an option mostly for millionaires. Uber aims to change that with a month-long pilot program.
Promotional prices through to Thursday start at 66 reais ($26) per seat for a lift from Helicentro Morumbi, in one of Sao Paulo's richest neighbourhoods, to the Blue Tree hotel across the river. The distance is nearly 6km, as the chopper flies.
A ride from the Blue Tree Faria Lima onward to Guarulhos International Airport costs 271 ($105) reais during the promotion. A car can take one to three hours to make that trip, depending on traffic.
Uber experimented in recent years with helicopter rides to the Coachella and Bonnaroo music festivals from nearby US airports that cost as much as $US3000 ($4055) to book a full helicopter and door-to-door SUV rides.
Source: Financial Review
