Fans of the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon ‘The Jetsons’ will know that it is set in a comic future where flying cars are commonplace.
Meanwhile, the 90s cult film ‘The Fifth Element’ sees Brue Willis as a flying taxi driver transporting passengers through the skies of New York in the 23rd century.
But according to experts, the era in which flying taxis were relegated to fiction will end in a few years.
In less than a year, the first commercial air taxi will transport visitors on trips around Paris at the 2024 Summer Olympics, finally heralding the arrival of the technology.
Sir Stephen Hillier, chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority, believes we are on the brink of a “flying taxi” boom and a “new revolution”.
Journeys on the craft will probably end up costing travelers between £5 and £10 per mile travelled, between the cost of a helicopter and a private car. The concept image shows a Virgin brand plane, built by Vertical Aerospace, flying over London.
Fans of the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon ‘The Jetsons’ will know that it is set in a comic future where flying cars are commonplace.
Hillier has called for a common global standard for flying taxis ahead of “widespread” adoption of these vehicles, which will use space in the air and reduce congestion on roads.
And like the electric car revolution happening on the ground, most flying taxis will be electric, meaning they won’t emit toxic pollutants.
“If we go out right now and look up into the air, it’s almost empty,” Hillier told the Financial times.
“And now we will have the technologies to make much more use of that environment than in the past.”
Investors around the world are pouring millions of dollars into flying taxi projects, which are going through various stages of testing.
Bristol-based Vertical Aerospace is a UK company working to build a fleet of electric vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, as part of a £2.8 billion ($4 billion) project. .
VTOL aircraft can take off directly into the air instead of having to first gain speed on the ground, reducing the need for runway space.
The classic ’90s film ‘The Fifth Element’ sees Brue Willis as a flying taxi driver taking passengers through the skies of New York in the 23rd century. In the photo, screenshot from the film.
Vertical Aerospace, a Bristol-based company, is working to build a fleet of electrically powered vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, as part of a £2.8bn ($4bn) project. Virgin Atlantic will buy up to 150 aircraft, called VA-X4, to deliver a Virgin Atlantic-branded short-haul network in some of the UK’s busiest cities.
Within a few years, VTOL could take off and land on airfields on the outskirts of a city, or even on runways atop skyscrapers.
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic will buy up to 150 aircraft from Vertical Aerospace, called VA-X4, to deliver a Virgin Atlantic-branded short-haul network around some of the UK’s busiest cities.
Stephen Fitzpatrick, CEO and founder of Vertical Aerospace, said the times that flying vehicles are safe and have a failure rate of one in a billion.
“We have the technology we need to manufacture these air taxis today,” he said.
‘And we are in the process of demonstrating that they meet the very, very rigorous safety standards that are needed to manufacture commercial aircraft.
“So we are in the certification phase, and the first commercial air taxis are probably two or three years away from hitting the market.”
Fitzpatrick believes electric taxis will be cheaper and faster than land taxis.
The plane could potentially take off and land on airfields on the outskirts of a city, or even on runways atop tall buildings.
Investors around the world are pouring millions of dollars into flying taxi projects, which are going through various stages of testing. The photo shows an artist’s impression of the VTOL of the British company Bellwether over New York.
For example, an air taxi from Heathrow to Canary Wharf would cost £50 and a journey time of eight to ten minutes.
In comparison, a traditional taxi typically takes up to two hours to travel the same route during peak hours and costs £150.
Another company, Netherlands-based Electron Aviation, plans to launch an Uber-like “air hailing service” that users could book through an app.
Electron Aviation’s fleet of 300 km/h battery-electric air taxis is expected to become a reality in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom in 2027.
Although the company’s fleet will not be VTOL (they will take off like commercial aircraft), this should not be a problem as they will use existing airport runways.
Meanwhile, the German company Volocopter will be the one transporting passengers around Paris during next year’s Summer Olympics.
It has already successfully conducted a test flight of its VoloCity VTOL, which looks more like a helicopter or a giant drone than a car.
Electron Aviation plans to launch its first electric air taxis in the Netherlands in 2027, before bringing its ‘sky-hailing service’ to the UK
Earlier this month, British company Bristow Group announced it had ordered two VoloCity machines with the aim of establishing a commercial passenger and cargo service in the US and UK.
When VoloCity gets to work on the Olympics, it will be “a huge milestone” that would help propel the industry forward, Fitzpatrick admitted to the Times.
However, it will be a while before any big city is transformed into something worthy of the Jetsons, complete with robots and elaborate holograms.
“We are going to need more infrastructure, we are going to need more pilots, but the technology already exists,” he said.