Ugh. Will they never learn? This has been tried before - all unsuccessfully. Oh, but Blade will be able to make it work, yeah? We'll see...
The problems associated with a NY to JFK helicopter service are the same ones that all recent operators have faced. Primarily, Blade won't be landing at the American Airlines terminal. NY Airways could (and did) do it because they used wheeled helicopters that landed on heliports out on the taxiways. Then they taxied into a special gate set aside for helicopters. JFK is a whole lot busier now. The New York Port Authority does not allow skid-equipped helicopters to hover in among the big iron. And mark my words, they won't even entertain the request to put another heliport out on their busy taxiways. And forget about AA building a rooftop heliport on their terminal if that's what you're thinking.
So Blade will be landing at the General Aviation Terminal, like every other charter helicopter. That's obviously where the rep from AA will meet the pax and escort them (wow, in a Cadillac!) to the AA terminal and through TSA. Does the Wall Street Heliport have full TSA screening of pax, carry-on and checked luggage yet? If not, that will have to occur, as usual, at JFK. So Mr. Zuckerberg will still have to carry his own bags through security, and take off his shoes like the unwashed masses.
The Blade founder and CEO acts like it's just a mere five minute hop on the helicopter from Manhattan to JFK. Nope! It's more like nine or ten minutes if you can get cleared direct. When JFK weather is low and they're using the Canarsie approach to the 13's, the helicopters will have to take the long way. But the time estimate is misleading anyway. First the pax has to get to the heliport - how long does that take? Then they wait for the helicopter - until they're "whisked away" on a ten minute flight to JFK. Finally it's a Cadillac(!) ride to the airline terminal. So it's not as convenient as Blade might want to make it appear. Obviously, AA has thought of this, and has decided to meet their premium pax at JFK with a butt-kissing representative, and presumably expedite the customer's progress through TSA. Good for them.
But as has been mentioned, baggage is GOING to be a issue. There is no way an Astar or a 407 can carry five people plus luggage and carry-on for an international flight. They'll "cube-out." They might as well plan on having a 206B running back and forth with just bags.
And what happens on those super-foggy or super-icy days when the airlines are still running but the helicopters are grounded? It happens. President Trump is in town? "Ooooh, sorry Mr. Bezos, no helicopter flights right now. You and Mr. Musk will have to wait until later. Or...perhaps you'd like us to whisk you away to JFK in this new Cadillac? I might mention that it's a CTS-V! It'll come in handy when you're stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the Van Wyck." Pause... "What's that? No sir, I wasn't trying to be funny."
I'm not quite sure what potent wacky-weed the Blade founder and American Airlines management were smoking when they got together to dream up this cockamamie scheme and think this service can be profitable for either of them. Then again, who knows... Maybe society has changed and there are enough stupid-rich rap stars and gazillionaire millennials with IPO money to burn and no time to waste being stuck in traffic on the Van Wyck Expressway!
Me, I just look back at the helicopter shuttles from NYC to JFK that have been tried before, since the 1950s. Not to be a negative Nancy here, but I believe that Blade is doomed to repeat history.