In March 2019, BLADE Continuous launched, which offers continuous service between Manhattan and the three New York City area airports (EWR, JFK, and LGA). At $195 per seat, it brought helicopter pricing to a much more affordable level than ever before, though obviously it’s still far from cheap.
The challenge for BLADE will be creating consistent enough demand for this service. In other words, they need enough people to not just try this for the novelty, but to use BLADE for their airport transfers over and over.
Along those lines, BLADE has just launched two new membership options. I’m not writing about them because I necessarily think they’re an amazing deal, but rather because I find this strategy to be intriguing.
BLADE has launched Airport Pass and Airport Pass PLUS, and they cost $295-795 per year.
BLADE Airport Pass
BLADE Airport Pass costs $295, and includes the following for a year:
- Flight Savings – $50 off every BLADE Airport flight you take in the next year
Convenient Travel Options – Travel between three BLADE Manhattan Lounges and JFK, Newark, or LaGuardia Airports - Companion Savings – Receive $25 off one companion seat per flight (as long as you are flying on that same flight)
- Customer Service – Dedicated 24/7 Flier Relations Specialists
BLADE Airport Pass PLUS
BLADE Airport Pass PLUS costs $795, and includes the following for a year:
- Increased Flight Savings – $100 off every BLADE Airport flight you take in the next year — that’s unlimited flights to or from all airports for only $95 — less than the cost of almost any car service.
- Corporate Expense Friendly – Flights cost only $95 (after pass discount) which fits within most corporate expense account limits for airport transport. If you (or your company) pay for the Pass, then you can expense all of your flights (YOUR CFO WILL LOVE YOU FOR IT.)
- Convenient Travel Options – Travel between three BLADE Manhattan Lounges and JFK, Newark, or LaGuardia Airports
- Companion Savings – Receive $50 off one companion seat per flight (as long as you are flying on that same flight)
- Customer Service – Dedicated 24/7 Flier Relations Specialists
My take on BLADE memberships
This essentially offers discounts to people who are frequently using BLADE. Given the usual cost of $195 in each direction, the Airport Pass will pay for itself after three roundtrips, while the Airport Pass PLUS will pay for itself after four roundtrips.
It’s an intriguing concept. BLADE helicopters have six seats, and in the past they’ve said that they break even if they sell 2-3 seats (which suggests the one-way operating costs are ~$400-600).
So using that logic, in theory they’d break even if they filled a helicopter with people paying $95 per seat, and their “profit” would be the annual membership fee.
I imagine the way they’re viewing it, they’re not operating anywhere close to a 100% load factor. So if they can encourage people to use the service while breaking even on the seat and pocketing the annual membership fee, that seems like a smart decision. In other words, it allows them to diversify their sales strategy a bit more than in the past.
Personally I’m terrified of helicopters, so this isn’t for me, but I’ll watch from a distance with interest…
Would anyone consider buying one of these BLADE annual memberships?
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