Courtesy of Uber
- In 2018, Uber's CEO spoke about plans to make the app "the Amazon of transportation."
- On Wednesday, Uber rolled out the ability to book flights to select customers in the UK.
- It will also come with discounted car trips to the airport, per the FT.
Uber is adding a new addition to its app that lets customers book plane tickets, the Financial Times first reported.
This service is currently only available to select customers in the UK, where Uber has already introduced the ability to book tickets for coaches, boats on London's River Thames, and trains – including the Eurostar. It will be rolled out to all UK users this summer as part of its ambitions to create a "super app" for public transport.
"We're incredibly pleased to introduce flight bookings as the latest addition to Uber's suite of travel booking options," Andrew Brem, Uber's UK general manager, said in a press release shared with Insider.
"Over the last 12 months with the addition of rail, coach, and now flight bookings, Uber is truly a one-stop travel solution."
Uber is working with the travel app Hopper to offer plane tickets, which can also come with an option to cancel or change the flight for any reason.
According to the FT, flights will also come with discounted car trips to the airport, as Uber seeks to capitalize on the fact that about 15% of its gross bookings in the ride-sharing side of its business come from such journeys.
Brem told the newspaper that the launch of commercial flight bookings was "the latest and most ambitious step" in its goal to expand Uber into a larger travel app.
In 2018 Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi first announced his plan to turn the company into the "Amazon of transportation," per Mashable.
A year later, he told The Verge that Uber wanted to be an "operating system for your everyday life in a city," but then disruption during the pandemic hampered its rollout.
Uber used to offer helicopter rides between JFK Airport and Manhattan for $200, but this ended in 2020, per the FT.