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Ubair’s goal is to make chartering a private plane as simple as requesting an Uber car. Like Uber, it even has different levels of service — a recent search of the app for a one-way trip from Toronto’s Billy Bishop Airport to New York’s La Guardia offered six choices ranging from UbairTaxi (a tiny prop plane for $2,900) to UbairHeavy (a Gulfstream for $21,500). There are no up-front fees or deposits required.

“We want to acquire the high end of the private-jet-flying public, as well as bridge the divide between commercial and private aviation,” said Justin Sullivan, Ubair’s co-founder and CEO.

Ubair, which is available in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean, has access to over 7,000 planes through a variety of aircraft management companies, although it relies on about 100 for the “vast majority” of its flights, according to Sullivan.

The company takes a cut that works out to approximately 10 per cent of each booking, and although the app just launched last week, Sullivan said their intention is to turn it into a profitable business.

The hope is that it will attract both business travellers and families, said Tait, who previously spent 18 years at Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. after helping Richard Branson write the airline’s business plan. He also briefly worked at Air Canada as the executive responsible for customer service.

“The commercial side of [aviation] has been going backwards in terms of its user friendliness,” Tait said.