Uber is partnering with Airbus. The on-demand ride service will be offering stylish, swift, and costly helicopter rides around Utah during the Sundance Film Festival this month, and none other than European aerospace giant Airbus will be providing the choppers. 
 
 In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Airbus CEO Tom Enders said "It's a pilot project, we’ll see where it goes — but it’s pretty exciting." Details on the partnership are scarce, but the report says that Airbus will "provide" helicopters for Uber's future chopper services. It's not clear if Uber will be purchasing the helicopters, but that would mark a significant departure for Uber, which relies on independent drivers to provide vehicles. 
 
 Uber has offered helicopter rides several times before, but never as part of a permanent service option. In 2013, it had ritzy helicopter rides from Manhattan to the Hamptons, and during the United States Formula 1 Grand Prix in Austin, it also offered rides to the race track. The rides cost a minimum of several hundred dollars; in the case of the Hamptons rides, they were $3,000 a pop. As with those previous trials, helicopter rides during Sundance will include traditional car service rides to and from the helipad. A Utah-based company called Air Resources will be operating the service. 
 
 News of the partnership — which could signal a more significant push from Uber on helicopter services — will likely make competitor Blade nervous. The startup is essentially Uber for helicopters. ||||| MUNICH—Airbus Group SE will provide helicopters to Uber Technologies Inc. for its on-demand services, the European plane maker’s chief executive said Sunday. 
 
 “Its a pilot project, we’ll see where it goes—but it’s pretty exciting,” Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal at the Digital Life Design conference here. 
 
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– Imagine being able to use Uber to call a copter instead of a car. Airbus is partnering with Uber to make that dream a reality, the Wall Street Journal reports. Airbus will provide helicopters to Uber for use with its "on-demand services" in what the Airbus CEO calls an "exciting" pilot project and what The Verge calls "Uber for helicopters." The service will launch at the Sundance Film Festival this week in Utah. Uber has actually tested its so-called "UberChopper" service before, such as with rides between Manhattan and the Hamptons or rides to special events like the Cannes Film Festival or the US Formula 1 Grand Prix. Clients will be picked up in a car (also from Uber) and taken to and from the helipad; anyone in the area with the Uber app can call a copter. Past tests were pretty pricey: The Verge reports rides have so far cost a minimum of several hundred bucks, with the Hamptons rides costing $3,000 each. In this case, Uber tells the Los Angeles Times that 15-minute rides to and from Park City, Utah, and the Salt Lake City airport will cost $200 per person during the day and $300 at night. It's not Uber's first foray into alternate forms of transportation; it offers rickshaw service in India and boat service in Turkey.