BLADE Urban Air Mobility To be Listed on NASDAQ

BLADE Urban Air Mobility, a modern by-the-seat helicopter mobility company, has officially announced that its stock will soon be added to the NASDAQ for public trading. Blade expects this transaction to provide $400 million in gross proceeds, with trading starting in early 2021.

Passengers board a BLADE urban flight in Los Angeles. BLADE in Los Angeles allows for direct-to-destination airport transfers and more.

BLADE Urban Air Mobility is a pioneer in technology-enabled air mobility, providing affordable, on-demand, by-the-seat helicopter flights in urban areas, as well as other services. Recently, recognizing the global growth trend in urban air mobility, the company doubled down on its investment in urban air mobility technologies by creating its own urban air mobility initiative. This initiative will use Blade’s infrastructure, fleet, passenger, and route management protocols and assets to lay the groundwork for the air mobility demand that will be created by eVTOL technologies, with BLADE eventually planning to transition to eVTOL itself. BLADE notes that the urban air mobility industry is expected to be a $125 billion market by 2025 and grow to $650 billion over the next decade.

A BLADE helicopter disembarks in NYC

According to BLADE, funds from the NASDAQ raise will enable the company to expand new urban air mobility routes, its network of captive passenger infrastructure, as well as its consumer-to-cockpit technology stack, “accelerating its transition from use of conventional aircraft to eVTOL aircraft”. The company has already developed exclusive passenger terminal infrastructure in key markets, providing a
competitive advantage in locations that are geographically constrained from adding additional heliports, as well as received $38 million from Airbus and real estate company Colony Northstar to begin building additional Vertiport Infrastructure.

Why it’s important: These new funds will allow BLADE to further lay the groundwork for the massive increase in demand for urban air travel that will be brought on by eVTOL. Once eVTOL aircraft become certified for commercial passenger flight, BLADE will already be a major market leader in fleet and passenger management, infrastructure development and more, having already offered technology-enabled on-demand flights for several years.