- A Blade helicopter ride from NYC to East Hampton is now 30% more expensive, Bloomberg reported.
- The price hike is a result of new airport regulations that aim to ease local noise complaints.
- It won't affect the private aircrafts of billionaires who regularly fly out to the wealthy enclave.
Affluent New Yorkers looking to bypass summer traffic to East Hampton via a Blade rideshare helicopter will have to pay 30% more this year, Bloomberg reported.
A flight from Manhattan to East Hampton will now cost $1,025, up from $795 last summer, according to Blade's website. Comparatively, its flights to nearby Sag Harbor and South Hampton are listed at the slightly more affordable price of $895.
The East Hampton premium is thanks to new airport regulations limiting Blade to one trip a day in an effort to curb noise, Rob Wiesenthal, Blade's founder and CEO, told Bloomberg.
By setting a limit on the comings-and-goings of commercial aircrafts, town officials hope to address thousands of noise complaints filed against the choppers in recent years. In order to achieve this, the East Hampton airport has announced it will close commercially on May 17 — and reopen as a "private use" airport just two days later.
The change will only impact commercial flights chartered by companies like Blade, not the private helicopters of billionaires who frequently fly out to the wealthy enclave.
A local politician has called the debate surrounding who should be permitted to fly their helicopters into East Hampton's airport a fight between "the two percent versus the one percent," as The New Yorker reported last year.
"Our focus at Blade has always been shared aircraft at a low cost," Wiesenthal said at a October 2021 town hall, per the outlet.
"Helicopters are not just for wealthy people anymore," he continued. "Our clients ... are not going to stop flying out here, so it's really in everyone's interest to keep the airport open."
A spokesperson for Blade did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Wiesenthal told Bloomberg that 90% of current fliers said they would buy a flight to nearby towns if the daily East Hampton flight was sold out.
