Soon you can use Uber to hail a helicopter

Workers make a final check on an Airbus helicopter before a demonstration flight in Mexico City. Photo / Bloomberg

European aerospace giant Airbus will co-operate with US ride-hailing service Uber Technologies to provide on-demand flights with its H125 and H130 helicopters, Airbus chief executive Tom Enders said.

The service will be first tested at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, which starts on January 21, Enders told a technology conference in Munich on Sunday. The project aims to make helicopter flights available to a wider audience, he said.

The co-operation with Uber comes as Airbus's Enders seeks to push innovation at the Toulouse, France-based company that makes everything from civil airplanes to military transporters.

Airbus has armed its Silicon Valley branch with US$150 million in venture capital to invest in promising aerospace startups around the world.