BlackJet, the Uber for private air travel, founded by the co-founder of Uber, is now live. If you managed to score an invite, and have the cash – you bastard – you can now “book seats, manage […] travel and invite […] friends.”
If you are indeed about to book travel, and need a friend, I am willing to undertake the role.
What is BlackJet? It’s a simple concept, really: there is extensive underused capacity in the private air space. Many airplanes that are chartered fly empty legs, returning from different locations to their base. As TechCrunch reported some time back, private jets average just an hour a day of flight time, compared to a staggering 11 hours for a commercial jet.
Thus, there is much slack in the inventory and time of private jets, which could be monetized. BlackJet wants to do that by linking jets to folks who can afford them. Just as Uber helped to sell excess capacity in black cars, and Lyft is selling excess consumer car inventory, BlackJet wants to make private jet travel more affordable, simple to book, and profitable.
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As before, the service won’t own any of the planes, but will instead take a cut of the fees.
Again according to Mr. Lawler’s report, early routes will be flown between New York and Los Angeles, and, oddly, New York to south Florida. Yes, this means that for once us folk in San Francisco won’t get the goodies first.
However, flights between San Francisco and Los Angeles will be added in the future. That’s a route I would love to expense to TNW.
If you are the jet set, or want to be, BlackJet may be your new friend.
Top Image Credit: AirportJournals.
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