Commuters will be able to fly from Westchester to Midtown Manhattan by chopper beginning on Black Friday, says helicopter hailing platform Blade.
The flights are set to run between Westchester County Airport and the helipad at “Blade Lounge West” on West 30th Street starting Nov. 28.
The Black Friday launch is scheduled to feature late-morning departures from Westchester to Manhattan and afternoon return flights, designed for holiday shoppers heading into the city rather than weekday commuters.
Full scheduled service will launch the following Monday, company officials told The Post.
The 12-minute flights — aimed at executives returning to five-day office schedules — will run during rush hours. That’s 7 to 9 a.m. from Westchester into the city and 4 to 7 p.m. from Manhattan to Westchester, with departures every 30 minutes.
That compares to commutes of an hour or longer each way for Westchester residents who drive into the city.
The pilot program comes after years of unsuccessful efforts by local pols to crack down on private helicopters. Blade said its new route won’t contribute to the noise problem since its choppers will mostly be flying over the Hudson River.
Blade already offers helicopter rides from Manhattan to nearby airports and to the Hamptons, among other options.
Seats will range from $125 one-way tickets with a Blade Commuter Pass to $225 per spot, depending on booking options.
The new route is Blade’s first weekday commuter operation in the New York metro area.
Joby, a California-based aviation company that acquired Blade earlier this year, plans to integrate the service into its broader rollout of electric air taxis once regulators give the green light.
The launch appears to mark a new phase in the city’s post-pandemic commuting shift, in which a growing number of businesses expect their employees to be in the office five days per week.
“With the return of five-day work weeks and traffic between the Greater New York City Suburbs and Manhattan now exceeding pre-pandemic levels, it was time for Blade to service this demand,” said Blade’s CEO Rob Wiesenthal.
“While Blade has proven the viability of airport routes in the US and Europe, commuter routes will become even more important as new landing zones, exclusive to electric aircraft, become available.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
