Cannes Film Festival 2015: Uber puts on helicopter service to take stars to the red carpet

It's a hard life being rich and famous - anyone want to take us for a spin?

Cannes Film Festival attracts a host of A-list celebrities and this year they can catch a helicopter (Getty Images)

Not one to miss out on a celebrity business op, taxi-hail app Uber has extended its service to helicopter rides especially for the Cannes Film Festival.

The glitzy event kicks off on the French Riviera today with a host of stars expect to arrive on the red carpet. Any A-Listers fretting over how to get to the festival can order a chopper to come and whisk them up from Nice airport. It’s a hard life, being rich and famous.

UberCopter costs 160 euros (£115) for a flight lasting just seven minutes (yes, that’s £16 per minute) and a maximum of four people can board each ride, The Local reports.

For the price, the celebs will also be chauffeured to the heliport and driven into the centre of Cannes by limo at the other end. Beats being stuck in traffic for over an hour though, particularly when an Uber car ride would cost up to 80 euros.

Uber has teamed up with local helicopter firms to put on the flashy service, after first trying it out in Lisbon and for the Coachella music festival.

It also offered a private jet service to take festival attendees between Paris and Nice last year at the massive price of nearly $9,000 per plane with four passengers.

Uber experienced problems with Nice taxi drivers at the 2014 festival, when they blocked the airport in protest at both unlicensed drivers and the US company’s invasion of their market.

French police will be conducting spot checks on taxis in Cannes this time around to ensure that all drivers with paying passengers are acting legally.

The Cannes Film Festival runs until 24 May, with the Coen brothers heading up the jury as dual presidents. More than 125,000 visitors are expected to attend.