Blade's Short Distance business operates in markets with significant population density, where the primary competition is ground or ferry transportation.

[6] Blade's first Short Distance route was launched in 2014, offering passenger service between Manhattan, Southampton, East Hampton, and Montauk.

[10] In December 2021, Blade entered the Vancouver market with the acquisition of the exclusive rights to Helijet's scheduled passenger business.

[11] In September 2022 Blade completed the acquisitions of the commercial passenger transport activities of three urban air mobility operators:[12] Monacair SAM, Héli Sécurité, and Azur Hélicoptère.

Blade believes organ transport represents a clear use case for future drone or EVA adoption, particularly given necessary infrastructure and landing zones are already in place at many hospitals.

[21] Blade was founded by Robert S. Wiesenthal and launched on Memorial Day (May 26) of 2014, with service between Manhattan, Southampton, East Hampton, and Montauk.

Utilizing a nine-passenger Cessna Grand Caravan turboprop plane from Boston to the island, Blade was able to cover the 90-mile distance in 40 minutes.

[29] In 2020 in partnership with Andrew Saffir, creator of The Cinema Society, Blade hosted a socially distanced, drive-in premier of Disney+'s Artemis Fowl in June 2020.

The stock offering was handled through the SPAC merger of Experience Investment Corp. (sponsored by KSL Capital Partners) with BLADE Urban Air Mobility, Inc.

[32][33] In September 2021, Blade announced the acquisition of Trinity Air Medical, a nationwide organ logistics and transportation company, for an upfront purchase price of $23 million.

[11] In May 2022, Blade announced it would acquire the asset-light commercial passenger transport activities of three European urban air mobility operators: Monacair SAM, Héli Sécurité and Azur Hélicoptère.

This has caused a significant rift in the community, as politicians and residents fight over whether to accept Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) funds or not.

Recently, the Town of East Hampton reached an agreement with the FAA to self-fund the airport, allowing them to impose stricter rules on air traffic.

[39] On May 15, 2019, a Bell 206 helicopter operated by Zip Aviation made an emergency landing on floats on the water near the W. 30th Street Heliport in New York City.