A few days before the start of the Olympic Games, German air taxis from the company Volocopter received approval from the French Council of State to fly in French skies. The city of Paris tried unsuccessfully to legally prevent this from happening at the last minute. It will be the first time that these electric mini-helicopters take off in the middle of a big city, even if it’s just for demonstration flights without passengers.
The company, based in Bruchsal, has not issued any reaction to the ruling. In its most recent statement, the firm had expressed hopes that the French authorities would grant the authorization. «We want to demonstrate that electric mobility in the air, quiet and clean, is possible,» they stated. «We are not talking about a mass transportation method, but an additional alternative,» they added.
Will future urban ambulances be aerial?
The electric air taxis, developed from drones and with 18 small rotors on the roof, had become a political issue in Paris. The left-wing Green city council was upset because President Emmanuel Macron’s government had approved a takeoff and landing site in central Paris.
«The government simply ignores the concerns of the Paris city council,» criticized Green councilor Dan Lert. Flying taxis are an «environmentally harmful device for the super-rich,» he claimed. Opponents of air taxis argue that the flights are too expensive, consume too much electricity, and are noisy.
The «volocopters» have also been tested in the skies of Italy. The Minister of Transport, Patrice Vergriete, on the other hand, supports at least testing the mini-helicopters. «I don’t want us to give up the experiment for ideological reasons,» he told Le Parisien. «This could be the ambulance of the future,» he added.
In early 2023, Volocopter’s CEO, Dirk Hoke, proudly posed with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and President Emmanuel Macron in front of a model of an air taxi in the courtyard of the Elysee Palace. Their project was considered a showcase project for Franco-German cooperation.