Update, June 27: Voom has removed the Bay Area offerings from its website. A Voom spokesperson told eVTOL.com, “At this time, the Voom service is for friends and family.” The spokesperson said that Voom will be officially launching in the U.S. in the fall of 2019.
The on-demand helicopter booking platform Voom, an Airbus subsidiary, has expanded its operations to the San Francisco Bay Area.
According to its website, Voom now has helipad locations at airports in Hayward, Oakland, Palo Alto, San Francisco, and San Jose, California. Flights between these locations booked through the Voom platform are operated by Coastal Helicopters of La Verne, California.
Initially incubated in A3, Airbus’s Silicon Valley outpost, Voom launched commercial operations in April 2017 in São Paulo, Brazil. Last year, the platform transitioned to Airbus Helicopters and expanded its operations to Mexico City, Mexico. The San Francisco Bay Area is Voom’s first U.S. location.
Voom is intended to serve as a model for urban air mobility by making helicopter transportation accessible and affordable to urban commuters. It is advertising flights in the Bay Area starting from around $150.
Airbus has said that lessons learned through its Voom operations will complement its other aeromobility projects, including development of the CityAirbus and Vahana eVTOL air taxis.
