It seems like every week, another charter broker announces that it has launched the “Uber of Aviation.” This is just so much marketing hype. There is no aviation equivalent of Uber, and the chances of one appearing are not even slim but nearly impossible.
Uber is a mobile app. That’s it. All it does is facilitate arrangements between car owners and operators and people who want to pay to get somewhere on the ground. Whether or not it is legal for a private car owner to offer transportation services for a fee is for more knowledgeable experts to figure out, and certainly Uber has run into many problems trying to get the services that its users provide accepted not only by various government agencies but also the regulated taxi industries with which Uber competes. This has resulted in some incidents of violence and many unhappy taxi drivers, because they don’t feel that unregulated drivers ought to be able to offer commercial services.
Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.
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