Blade
- Blade is launching a new luxury bus service between NYC and the Hamptons.
- Prices start at $195 for a single trip.
- Blade says the bus journey will have the same level of service as a private flight.
Helicopter chartering company Blade is launching a new luxury bus service between New York City and the Hamptons to bridge the gap between cheap bus journeys and its pricey helicopter flights.
Part of the appeal of its helicopter service is its nearly 40-minute journey time, which costs around $1,050.
But while the company's luxury bus still has to obey traffic rules, it aims to offer guests a more premium experience to distract them from the longer journey time.
It will be like an in-flight service than a traditional bus. Passengers will be able to press a call button to have staff bring them complimentary refreshments, including espresso martinis and Sweetgreen salads, as well as hot towels and cashmere blankets, The New York Times reported.
"This level of service is commensurate to what you would see in private aviation," Roisin Branch, Blade's chief marketing officer, told the outlet.
It comes at a price, though: the cheapest one-way seats start at $195 for the double-row seat and go up to $275 for a single-row seat, Bloomberg reported.
The 19-seat buses are a partnership between Blade and The Jet, a luxury coach company. The Jet also runs a service between New York City and Washington, DC which promises a similarly high level of service as the latest collaboration — including comfortable seats, extra legroom, and high-quality WiFi.
Blade aims to capture the market of people who don't want to charter a helicopter but are happy to pay more than the mainstream bus fare. The popular Hampton Jitney bus costs around $40 when booked ahead of time.
The new luxury bus service promises fewer stops and only picks up New Yorkers going to the Hamptons in Hudson Yards — one of the city's most expensive neighborhoods.
In 2022, Blade had to bump up the price of its helicopter trips to the East Hamptons after new airport regulations limited the company to one trip a day, Blade CEO Rob Wiesenthal previously told BI. The regulations were made in response to thousands of complaints from local residents over the noise pollution from helicopters.
The company — whose early investors included former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Warner Brothers CEO David Zaslav, and IAC chairman Barry Diller — has staved off competition in the field. It reported $225 million in revenue in 2023; over 50% of that was earned from the medical side of its business, which air transports human organs for transplant.