The ride-hailing firm announced that L.A. will be one of the first cities served by UberAir, which it says will begin ferrying passengers across the region in electric aircraft in 2020.

Aviation manufacturers such as Embraer, Bell Helicopter, Pipistrel, Aurora Flight Sciences, and Mooney Aviation will supply and pilot the aircraft. Uber will operate the software that passengers use to book a trip and take a commission, much like with Uber rides on the ground.

"We're trying to work with cities in the early days who are interested in partnering to make it happen, while knowing that there will be pitfalls along the way," said Jeff Holden, Uber's chief product officer, explaining why the company chose Los Angeles and Dallas as the first cities to test the service.

"L.A. is a model city for this in that it's highly congested from a traffic perspective, and there's not a great mass transit relief on the horizon," Holden said.

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