Air Taxi Promoters Give Up Flying During Paris2024

The promoters of electric air taxis admitted today that they had given up on carrying out experimental flights during the Paris Olympics due to a lack of certification from the European Union's aviation regulator.

Airport manager Groupe ADP and German aeronautical start-up Volocopter told the France-Presse news agency four days before the end of Paris2024 that they now intend to fly "until the end of the year" from a floating platform on the River Seine.

 

The two companies still want to organize flight demonstrations at an altitude of 50 meters with a prototype, without passengers, today and Sunday at the Saint-Cyr-l'Ecole aerodrome in the capital region, just a few hundred meters from the Château de Versailles park, the site of the Olympic equestrian competition.

The electrically-powered, two-seater aircraft, one of which seats the driver, are manufactured by Volocopter, creator of the 'Volocity' model.

Volocopter did not obtain certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency on time, due to a "delay of a few weeks" linked to the engines, explained Groupe ADP CEO Edward Arkwright.

Volocopter's leader, Dirk Hoke, attributed the delay to "a US subcontractor who was unable to fulfil his promise".

The engines to equip the machine had to be sent back to the United States to be checked and "will return next week, but not in time to make the experimental flights" before the end of the Olympic Games on Sunday, Hoke admitted.

On 9 July, the French government had confirmed the authorization of experimental air taxi flights during Paris2024, a decision that the French capital's city council considered "an ecological aberration".

The authorization was valid from 26 July to 11 August, from 08:00 to 17:00 (local time) and the air taxis could not charge for the flights.

If the services were sold, they would cost between 105 and 140 euros.

Three lines were planned, one of which would connect a barge near Austerlitz railway station to the Issy-les-Moulineaux heliport.

Paris City Council referred to the initiative as "an ecological aberration" and said it was considering going to court to stop it.

"This government doesn't have the legitimacy to go against what has already been decided by the city council," commented mobility councilor David Belliard at the time.