By Courtesy of Volocopter / Nikolay Kazakov
For the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, a first experiment with flying cabs will take place on a few routes in and around the French capital. The idea is to familiarize the public with this new technology, which could become more widespread in a few years' time.
For the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, a first experiment with flying cabs will take place on a few routes in and around the French capital. The idea is to familiarize the public with this new technology, which could become more widespread in a few years' time.
The selected project is led by the German manufacturer Volocopter and the British operator Skyports. It is above all supported by the ADP Group, which operates the airports of Paris and its region, thanks to which tests have been underway since 2021, in collaboration with France's civil aviation authority, the Direction générale de l'aviation civile (DGAC).
During the Olympic Games, several VoloCity urban taxis should be available to VIPs and the general public on experimental routes between Charles de Gaulle Airport and Le Bourget Airport, or between Le Bourget and the Quai d'Austerlitz in Paris. In a recent interview with France Info, Augustin de Romanet, CEO of the ADP group, estimated the average price of a trip in a VoloCity flying taxi to be similar to that of a traditional cab. During the event, a few thousand tickets should be sold "at very reasonable prices," he announced, which "could be around €110."
The main advantage of this new type of transport is, of course, its speed, since these cabs can get around in urban areas while avoiding traffic jams. In fact, the VoloCity has already successfully taken to the skies of Dubai and Singapore.
The aim of Volocopter (and others in the field) is to bring this new mode of transport to the mainstream, as a complement to those already existing. These first commercial flights scheduled for 2024 could well inspire other large cities in the world to adopt these light, electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles (eVTOL).
