At the International Paris Air Show, Volocopter, Groupe ADP and the French Civil Aviation Authority said that Paris is on track to be the first European city to offer electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft services.
The air taxi services will likely be in time for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games that are taking place in Paris next year. The flights will be available to the general public as an addition to existing public transportation systems at the Paris Games.
Volocopter is one of several air taxi vendors that are conducting flight tests in eVTOLs. Other vendors include Airbus, Vertical Aerospace and Ascendance, Lilium and Joby Aviation. These vendors are working with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to get the air taxis certified with the same safety standards as airliners and create redundant features that have been tested in more than 1,500 test flights.
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, connection routes established will include:
- Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport — Paris-Le Bourget airport
- Vertiport of Austerlitz barge — Paris Heliport
- Paris Heliport — Airfield of Saint-Cyr-l'École (Versailles)
- Round trips from Paris Heliport and Paris Le Bourget
The operations will take place from five vertiports and will gradually grow to cover the Paris region over the next decade. Volocopter’s VoloCity air taxi will have the capacity for one pilot and one passenger flying at heights below 500 meters.
Vertiports
Vertiport construction will start over the course of this summer and will be in full swing by the end of 2024. The five vertiports in Paris will have a development schedule allowing for a summer 2024 launch. A special vertiport will be located on the Austerlitz barge on the Seine River.
The vertiport will allow for one to three takeoff and landing spots and integrate the learnings from the Pontoise testbed that is taking place over the next year.
Beyond bringing passengers to their destinations in cities and offering tourist flights, Volocopter is collaborating with air rescue operators to help save lives by deploying eVTOLs in emergency medical services. The company will also be offering opportunities for rapid emergency care using eVTOLs for multicopter operations in EMS in the Paris region.