Pontoise Aerodrome Thursday morning.
A half-flying saucer half-helicopter machine thrones in the middle of the tracks.
By the time a pilot sits at the controls and this two-seater electric flying taxi takes off vertically for a ten-minute flight.
The Volocity from the German start-up Volocopter is in the test phase.
But, in less than two years, it should have the certification of the European Aviation Safety Agency (Easa), essential to welcome passengers on board.
Its entry into operation is scheduled for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
A few months before Singapore or Rome, the City of Light will therefore be the first in the world to transport people in these devices straight out of the
Fifth Element
.
"In Paris, we will operate three lines with ten flying taxis: Roissy-Le Bourget, Le Bourget-Austerlitz and Issy-les-Moulineaux-Saint-Cyr-l'École",
underlines Jean-Christophe Drai, commercial director of Volocopter France.
Imagine a motorist stuck in a traffic jam on the A15 between Paris and Pontoise and who has a heart attack.
Emergency rescue could use this type of aircraft
Augustin de Romanet, CEO of ADP
The advantage for passengers: to Le Bourget-Paris in seventeen minutes against an hour by car.
This, in a vehicle four times less noisy than a helicopter thanks to its electric motor.
At launch, the races should be very expensive (nearly 200 euros).
"Ultimately, the goal is to align with the prices charged by Uber,"
explains Jean-Christophe Drai.
The uses will be diversified: transporting business travelers, but also carrying out medical flights with human organs intended to be transplanted or people who have suffered serious accidents.
“Imagine a motorist stuck in a traffic jam on the A15 between Paris and Pontoise and who has a heart attack.
Emergency rescue could use this type of aircraft,”
illustrates Augustin de Romanet, CEO of ADP which manages airports like Roissy and Le Bourget but also the Pontoise aerodrome where Volocopter does its tests.
The RATP believes in it
If the airport manager is interested in the subject, it is because he believes in this new mode of air transport.
Eventually, it could collect airport fees from these flying taxi operators as it does with airlines.
To accelerate the movement, it has invested a few million euros in Skyports, which is building vertiports in the city where passengers will board and disembark from these flying taxis.
The first of these modules was unveiled Thursday at Pontoise aerodrome.
The RATP is also about adventure.
It was she who identified the place where the vertiport will be set up in Paris: in Austerlitz, on a barge next to the Cité de la mode.
“Today, Volocopter makes these flying taxis and operates them.
But, eventually, it could focus on manufacturing.
We would then position ourselves on the operation of the service, ”
advances Pierre Becquart, director of air urban mobility at the Régie.
It will still be necessary for this service to meet with commercial success and for it to have an economic model.
In 2024, Volocopter hopes to transport a few thousand passengers before opening other lines.
“We are like Tesla in its early days: we don't make
sales.
But see where it is today,”
enthuses Christian Bauer, CFO of Volocopter, which raised $600 million.
Success is all the less guaranteed as many others - Airbus, the French start-up Ascendance Flight, the American Joby Aviation... - will arrive soon after in this niche.
