Good to the Last Mile

Sometimes the worst part of the private jet experience is the commute to the airport. With that in mind, in 2022 fractional operator Flexjet formed its own vertical lift division after acquiring helicopter service providers AAG in the U.S. and Halo Aviation in the UK in 2021. Customers can now apply their fixed-wing fractional hours to helicopter service on an interchange basis. For a nominal extra charge, Flexjet will even arrange ground transportation to make the journey truly seamless.

Flexjet Vertical Lift provides the service with 21 helicopters in three main areas: New York City/Northeast, South Florida/Bahamas, and London. New York and London have long been popular helicopter passenger markets, but the popularity of the service in South Florida surprised Eli Flint, president of Flexjet Vertical Lift. “It’s demand we weren’t quite anticipating,” he said. “I was blown away.”

The service there covers an area with borders roughly between Palm Beach to Naples, to Key West, and over to the Bahamas from a base at Miami-Opa locka Executive Airport (KOPF). Flexjet initially moved two of its Sikorsky S-76 twin-engine helicopters from New York to cover the market. The service uses landing facilities in areas designed to maximize customer convenience, such as the helipad atop the headquarters building of the Warren Henry Automotive Group in North Miami or North County Airport (F45) in West Palm Beach.

For the London helicopter market, Flexjet operates a fleet of 10 six- and eight-seat Leonardo AW109 and AW169 models. Flint pointed out that the British have long appreciated the utility of executive helicopters.

Accessing helicopter service is relatively simple, Flint said. “When a fixed-wing owner wants to use helicopters, we have a dedicated person on the owner services team in Cleveland. All he does is facilitate communication between the fixed-wing team and the helicopter team.”

While the UK-based AW109s are somewhat smaller than the S-76s and AW169s, all of Flexjet’s helicopters are twin-engine and flown with two pilots. “The AW109s are really popular in the UK. The British love them and they are used to them, but we fly them multi-crew even though a lot of European operators fly them single-­pilot. We don’t do that even if it means giving up the ability to carry another passenger in the back,” Flint said. “All of the safety standards, operating procedures, and resources that we have in jets we’ve extended to helicopters. That includes the level of pilots we hire and maintain, the level of safety oversight, and the program credentials.”

The success of Flexjet’s helicopter program has it looking to expand elsewhere. “There are a couple of other markets we’re currently looking at [where] I think we will make one announcement here pretty soon,” Flint said.

eVTOLS Are Next

Flexjet also is planning on adding electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to its helicopter service once those aircraft become available. “We want to make sure we are at the forefront of it. We’re looking at everything and have visited all the production facilities,” Flint said. “I think it is going to happen.”

In 2021, Flexjet sister company OneSky Flight ordered 200 eVTOLs from Embraer-funded Eve Air Mobility. It plans to deploy 100 in the U.S. and 100 in the UK. Fractional competitor NetJets also has placed a substantial eVTOL order from Lilium. Flexjet’s eVTOL service could begin as early as 2026. 

Blade provides vertical lift from New York City to local airports. (Photo: Blade)

Adding eVTOLs to the mix promises to exponentially expand vertical flight passenger service from far more locations, according to Rob Wiesenthal, CEO of Blade Urban Air Mobility. Blade brokers integrated helicopter and jet trips with its BladeOne seasonal service between New York’s Westchester County Airport (KHPN) and Miami and Palm Beach, Florida. Jets at Westchester are linked via helicopter service from the West Side of Manhattan. Blade also collaborates with private jet service providers to deliver seamless service to special events and seasonal attractions such as the Monaco Yacht Show, where a one-hour drive becomes a seven-minute helicopter flight.

Speaking at a recent Jefferies webinar, Wiesenthal said the eVTOL market has the potential to grow to ‘automotive scale,’ enabling even more convenient vertical lift services from more places. Blade has offices in the U.S. and Europe and brokers flights for “more people by helicopter to and from urban areas than any other company in the world,” he said.

Last year Blade and Beta Technologies collaborated to perform the first test of a piloted eVTOL in the greater New York City area. In April 2021, Blade agreed to facilitate the purchase of up to 20 Beta Alia 250 aircraft by its network of operators. Blade intends for these aircraft to be deployed on routes between its network of dedicated terminals in the U.S.

“The most important urban air mobility service in the world right now is our New York to JFK/ New York to Newark Airport product,” Wiesenthal noted. Blade offers an annual airport pass for the by-the-seat service for $735. After that customers can fly as much as they want on the routes for as little as $95 each way. It also holds an exclusive license to fly passengers by the seat between Monaco and France. 

OneSky Flight’s HALO ordered 200 eVTOLs from Embraer-funded Eve Air Mobility. (Photo: Eve)

Infrastructure is the key to growing the eVTOL market, he said, both in terms of terminal infrastructure and existing customers and routes. Wiesenthal believes eVTOLs and helicopters will go through a “cohabitation phase” because “not every platform is right for the mission” and the market will require “different use cases” depending on the mission. But he thinks that predictions that eVTOLs will become so pervasive as to darken the skies and become fixtures on every rooftop are wildly exaggerated. “That’s just not the near-term or even mid-term reality. These are going to be shared operations where you’re on a schedule or operating continuously. You’re not going to be able to go on an app and all of a sudden have an aircraft land on your building and for forty bucks go wherever you want.”

Wiesenthal thinks that as the eVTOL market spools up, companies already operating helicopters that have access to dedicated landing facilities and terminals—such as those provided by Blade’s network—will be at a distinct advantage.

“It’s going to take a bunch of years to open new landing zones. There’s a very big window where we will be the only company able to utilize both the infrastructure in terms of the landing zones [that we have developed] but also the terminal infrastructure that’s required to get the kind of volume that you need to run [flights] every five minutes,” he claimed.

Government has, and will continue to play a large role, mainly via the provision of incentives to encourage eVTOL use, Wiesenthal believes. He said this could take the form of allowing “longer operating hours, not having [noise] curfews, [charging] lower landing fees,” and facilitating the installation of electric charging stations. However, Wiesenthal and some others think that the widespread use of eVTOLs will first emerge outside the U.S., most likely in the Middle East.

“The governments throughout the Middle East have been very proactive in trying to prove their technological prowess. They’re interested in becoming City 2.0 and you will likely see certification there first. That’s important to these manufacturers and I think it’s a great proving ground for them. We’re excited about it, and then you’re going to see it come back to the United States,” he said.

But no matter how or where the eVTOL market evolves, it promises to enhance last-mile service, making the trip to the airport that much more convenient.