New Appointment Sees Possible Aussie Uber Air Service Get Closer

Plans to launch trials of an Uber Air service in Melbourne or Sydney – but most likely the former – have been boosted with Uber Australia’s newly appointed chief indicating strong support for such a service.

Former Bain and Company exec Natalie Mulligan is the new boss at Uber Oz and until recently held the position of head of cities for Australia and NZ. She has said that within 10 years she envisages Uber operating a single platform for passengers with multiple modes of transport – including Uber Air – on offer.

Uber has announced Australia as one of five countries where it intends to trial Uber Air services: the others are Brazil, France, India and Japan. In June Melbourne was announced as the third city for an Uber Air program, the first outside the USA.

Early plans are for two routes: Melbourne-Geelong and Melbourne CBD-Melbourne airport. A trip on the latter service is estimated to take just 10 minutes; there’s been no mention of the likely cost.

Initial flights will have pilots on board, but the long-term vision is for Uber’s aerial vehicles to fly autonomously – ie, without human pilots.