Uber, the taxi service favoured by smartphone-savvy city dwellers across the globe, is launching a new helicopter service for the Cannes Film Festival.
The service, which will allow users to summon one of seven helicopters using the Uber smartphone app, has been introduced to help passengers escape the heavy Cannes traffic which can make journey times between Nice airport and the city centre unbearably slow during the film festival.
To provide the service Uber has teamed up with French helicopter firm Helipass and promises journey times as quick as 7 minutes – ideal for the A-lister in a hurry. Each journey will cost around €160 for up to four people, as opposed to €80 for the same hour-long journey in an Uber taxi, including a chauffeured car from Nice airport to the helipad and a limo to take passengers to Cannes city centre at the other end. For those chartering some of the larger yachts at the Cannes Film Festival it may, of course, be far more convenient to land on the boat’s own helipad.
While this is the first time Uber has offered this service at Cannes, the company has trialled helicopter journeys in Lisbon and during the Coachella Festival in California. Last year Uber also offered a private jet service between Paris and Nice during the Cannes Film Festival but, at $9,000 for a four-seater plane, interest in the helicopter service is expected to be much greater.