United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare) has launched a helicopter shuttle service connecting three helipads in Manhattan with New York Newark in order to improve the accessibility of the airport to premium passengers, CNBC has reported.
The 10-minute flights are operated by HeliFlite (New York Newark) and mirror an earlier move by rival Delta Air Lines, which has partnered with virtual carrier Fly Blade (New York 34th Street) to offer helicopter shuttles to New York JFK.
HeliFlite operates a fleet consisting of S-76s, AW139s, Bell Helicopter 429s and 430s, and Eurocopter EC155s.
United pulled out of JFK in October 2015 in order to focus its New York metro services at Newark. The airport is located in New Jersey, across the Hudson river and the Newark Bay and has been traditionally perceived by many business passengers as more distant than JFK, which is located within New York's city limits, despite, in fact, being slightly closer to Manhattan.
According to the ch-aviation capacity module, Newark is United's fourth-largest base by number of departures, behind Chicago O'Hare, Houston Intercontinental, and Denver International. The carrier is, in turn, by far the biggest operator at the airport with a 63.2% market share by capacity.
