In the midst of Reno’s continuing economic boom, San Francisco startup Blackbird, is considering the city for its next regional route connecting to Silicon Valley. The company has been begun launching routes, most recently Palo Alto to Santa Monica, that help business travelers avoid large airport congestion and save hours of time in the process.
While it’s clear Reno will continue its growth, the amount of business travel to the region will undoubtedly grow with it, leaving the question of how will an influx of people get there? According to the Bureau of Transportation, 74% of US business travel is to destinations less than 250 miles away, which is ironically almost the exact distance between Silicon Valley and Reno.
“Reno is full of potential and is proving itself to be a hub for technology and innovation,” says Blackbird CEO, Rudd Davis. “We want to help accelerate the growth already taking place by making Reno even more accessible to and from Silicon Valley.”
Blackbird’s answer to growing demand is increasing the supply, but not just any supply, the company specializes in providing extraordinary flying experiences everyone can appreciate says Davis. “By utilizing smaller airports we save flyers hours of time they would typically spend waiting in lines at larger airports like SFO or OAK. We also use Swiss made Pilatus PC-12 planes designed for safety, reliability and have executive seating you can stretch out in.”
Their app connects flyers to semi-private flights without the need for an exclusive membership like JetSmarter or Surf Air and even offers an in-app concierge service to plan ground transportation to and from airports as well as accommodate special requests.
While Blackbird has yet to finalize Reno as an official route, they are looking to reach out to the Reno community to gauge interest, work with local businesses and understand the needs specific to the area.
You can download the Blackbird app (iOS and Android) and explore other routes they currently fly like Palo Alto <—> Tahoe. To express interest and bring Blackbird to Reno you can reach them directly [email protected].
