Uber, the ride-hailing company, has added a flight bookings feature to its UK app in order to become a ‘super app’, just days after Botim introduced the feature and envisioned becoming the Ultra App.
As Uber has launched flight bookings in the UK, Customers would be able to book a complete journey across multiple modes of transport with ease and in just a few swipes.
The company has already begun rolling out the new booking tool for domestic and international flights to UK customers, with plans to expand it to users across the country in the coming weeks.
According to Andrew Brem, Uber’s UK general manager, the in-app booking feature is “the latest and most ambitious step” in the company’s strategy to expand its core ride-booking business into a broader travel booking platform.
The United Kingdom is one of Uber’s most important markets outside of North America, and it serves as a testing ground for new features. The San Francisco-based company has already begun selling domestic train, Eurostar, and coach tickets in the country.
Brem stated that train bookings have already proven “incredibly popular,” growing 40% month on month since their launch last year.
Uber has partnered with travel booking company Hopper to sell flights, and will take a small commission on each sale; it also has the option to add a booking fee on top in the future.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi first revealed plans for the company to become a larger travel platform in 2018, but the pandemic delayed implementation and forced the company to focus on its food delivery business.
Uber is not completely new to air travel; in 2019, it launched $200 helicopter rides between Manhattan and JFK airport in the United States under the brand Uber Copter, which was an air charter broker. The service was cancelled in 2020, following the implementation of social distancing protocols that affected almost every other industry.
The flight booking option would also drive more users to Uber’s main ride-booking business, and in the future, the company could offer discounted airport rides in conjunction with a flight booking.
According to statistics, airport trips account for about 15% of Uber’s gross bookings, while in the UK, 40% of journeys begin or end near transit hubs; in recent months, as travel and tourism have rebounded, so has demand for Uber’s app.
Currently, Uber has more drivers working in the UK than before the pandemic; however, company officials are unsure whether fares will remain the same or increase in the future.
Also read: Uber to shut down services in Pakistan’s five cities
