Air Taxi Cleared to Fly at Paris Olympics

German eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) vehicle developer Volocopter has been cleared to fly at the 2024 Paris Olympics starting July 26.

The French government has also agreed to the development of a takeoff and landing facility to be called Vertiport de Paris-Austerlitz.

Only electric aerial vehicles (EAV) from Volocopter are authorized to use the new vertiport and conduct demonstration flights during the Paris Games.

Flights are being allowed from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. with a limitation of two flights per hour and a total of up to 900 flights.

It is expected that the EAV will be the VoloCity, one of several Volocopter flying vehicles. The EAV has also flown in Las Vegas, Dallas and Tampa, Florida.

The VoloCity also spent time at Tampa airport testing with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ahead of its flight there late last year.

The battery-powered EAV can travel at speeds up to 68 mph with a takeoff capacity of 2,000 pounds.

As in typical eVTOLs, the Volocopter air taxi has redundant systems.

The German Federal Aviation Office Luftfahrt-Bundesamt production organization recently approved the production of the VoloCity.

The approval is for two new Volocopter production and hangar facilities in Bruchsal, Germany, and includes production of the eVTOL from prototyping to serial manufacturing. 

Related:Flying Taxi Takes Off at Tampa Airport

The crewed VoloCity air taxi has been flown over the course of a week in the cities of Osaka and Amagasaki in preparation for the 2025 World Exposition, Osaka Kansai Expo.

Volocopter plans to fly at the international exhibition with its commercial air taxi.

The flight tests in Japan were to test EAV operations under conditions like what is expected during the Expo and to accelerate public awareness of eVTOL vehicles in Japan.

Volocopter has been focused on Japan since 2018 when the country became one of the first to announce its commitment to urban air mobility.