Story ID: 
Airbus Helicopters Rolling Out Air-taxi Booking Service
By: Mark Huber
Caption: Voom platform connects travellers with licensed helicopter operator partners, allowing air-taxi flights to be booked in as little as 60 minutes.
Word Count: 228
Airbus Helicopters is incorporating helicopter booking platform Voom as part of its urban mobility strategy. Developed by Airbus A3 in Silicon Valley and initially deployed commercially in April 2017 in São Paulo, Brazil, Voom has been used to successfully fly thousands of passengers by helicopter over the past 10 months.

The platform connects travelers with trusted and licensed helicopter operator partners, allowing air-taxi flights to be booked in as little as 60 minutes in advance. “Following our launch in Brazil, we are expanding into additional cities, beginning with Mexico City early this year,” said Voom CEO Uma Subramanian.

“Urban transportation on and below ground is reaching its limits, and naturally Airbus is looking to the skies to redefine a third axis for public transportation solutions,” said Matthieu Louvot, Airbus Helicopters executive vice president of customer support and services. “Voom will allow us to expand the usage of existing helicopters for the benefit of urban citizens and operators.”

In addition to applying Voom to helicopters, Airbus is exploring a range of urban mobility solutions, including the four-passenger, self-piloted CityAirbus eVTOL demonstrator; the single-passenger, self-piloted A3 Vahana eVTOL aircraft; A3's Altiscope project to help shape regulations and certification requirements to safely integrate eVTOLs in urban skies; autonomous urban parcel delivery by drones; and the Racer high-speed demonstrator, which aims to connect urban centers.