Uber customers in the UK will soon be able to book flights through the ride booking app as the company aims to offer multiple forms of transport.
The new feature that allows consumers to book domestic and international flights is rolling out to the Uber app in the UK and will be available to all UK users in the summer.
Uber said the flight booking feature was part of its ambition to “create a seamless door-to-door travel solution” alongside the car-sharing feature for which it was initially known. The company has partnered with online travel agent Hopper to allow users to book flights and receive a small commission on each sale.
Users in the United Kingdom, which is one of Uber’s largest markets outside of North America, can already book bus tickets on National Express and Megabus services in the app, as well as train travel through the network. National Rail and Eurostar.
In London, the American company has owned the naming rights to the Thames Clippers commuter boat service since 2020, which was renamed Uber Boat. These trips can also be booked through the Uber app, which allows passengers to board the boats using a QR code on their phone.
To book a flight, Uber users will need to enter their travel information, including where they are flying from and to, and the planned date of the trip.
The company said they could then select round-trip flights, and then select and pay for seats in the app, if they’re traveling with a major airline.
Andrew Brem, General Manager of Uber UK, said: “Our new functionality will make booking and managing air travel simple and stress-free, with the booking process taking just a minute.”
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi shared his plans for the company to become “an operating system for everyday life” in 2019, when he merged his ride-sharing and food delivery services Uber Eats. He also added a feature to the app that highlighted local public transportation options.
The group increased its revenue by about a third in the first three months of the year, it reported on Tuesday, helping to cut its net loss.
The company posted a 19% increase in bookings between January and March, compared to the previous year, while achieving a 24% increase in trips, averaging approximately 24 million trips per day.