#Uber reportedly in talks to sell flying taxi division

Uber shares spiked more than 6 percent Wednesday after reports emerged that the company was looking into selling its flying taxi business.

The ride-hail giant is in advanced talks to sell Uber Elevate to aerospace firm Job Aviation, Axios reported, with news of the talks coming as Uber is already looking to cut back on cash burn as the COVID-19 pandemic has pummeled its core business.

Uber Elevate is the San Francisco-based company’s division dedicated to aerial pursuits, and has been developing a flying taxi prototype.

Uber did not respond to a request for comment. It is unclear if the sale would impact Uber Copter, the company’s helicopter service from lower Manhattan to JFK.

Shares of Uber were up 6.3 percent Wednesday afternoon, trading at $52.77.

Earlier this month Uber was revealed to be in talks to sell its Advance Technologies Group — which focuses on autonomous vehicle technology — to self-driving car startup Aurora.

The pandemic has forced CEO Dara Khosrowshahi to double down on ride-hailing and food delivery rather than expensive moonshot projects.

On Tuesday, Uber announced that it had completed a $2.7 billion acquisition of food delivery rival Postmates, whose addition increases Uber’s stake in the US delivery market by 8 percentage points to 37 percent. Market leader Doordash has a 45-percent share of the US food delivery business, according to Edison Trends.