Paris / Bruchsal, 21 June 2021 – Today, the pioneer of urban air mobility (UAM), Volocopter, flew their Volocopter 2X electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft at Le Bourget Airfield during the Paris Air Forum. With both, the flight demonstration of their Volocopter 2X and the VoloCity model onsite, the German UAM developer demonstrated the progress they are making to introduce eVTOL aircraft as an addition to existing transportation in the Paris region.
The 3-minute remote controlled flight was the first public flight demonstration of an electrically powered air taxi in France. It gave the public a real-life experience of what an air taxi looks and sounds like in operations. Attendees watched as the Volocopter 2X flew a 500 m route at speeds up to 30 km/h and 30 m high along the Le Bourget Airfield. This flight marks the beginning of a multi-step test and market development campaign in cooperation with the French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC - Direction générale de l'aviation civile) to safely bring electric air taxis to the Île-de-France region. Attendees could sit inside the VoloCity model for a first-hand experience and detailed explanation of the benefits of electric air taxi services.
Volocopter was announced as the first vehicle and operations partner for the launch of the urban air mobility industrial branch in Paris in September 2020. Now the company is planning to open a local office and is recruiting staff and expanding local partnerships to ensure the new UAM solutions meet local demands. Volocopter is also working on an agreement with Groupe ADP and RATP Groupe to enhance regional connectivity in a meaningful way and showcase the benefits and key attributes of urban air mobility.
Volocopter is well advanced in the certification process with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for commercial launch. As the first and only eVTOL developer with Design Organization Approval (DOA) from EASA, Volocopter is leading the way to introduce sustainable UAM solutions to cities around the world. Volocopter’s approach to introducing these services is to create a UAM ecosystem in which passengers and goods experience seamless connectivity with their cities via Volocopter’s mobility solutions: VoloCity (aircraft for intra-city connections), VoloConnect (aircraft for city-suburb connections), VoloDrone (aircraft for cargo transport), and VoloPorts (take-off and landing sites) which are all fully integrated on the digital platform VoloIQ (real time digital twin of the ecosystem).
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About Volocopter GmbH
Volocopter is building the world’s first sustainable and scalable urban air mobility business to bring affordable air taxi services to megacities worldwide. With the VoloCity, the company is developing the first fully electric “eVTOL” aircraft in certification to transport passengers safely and quietly within cities. Volocopter leads and cooperates with partners in infrastructure, operations, and air traffic management to build the ecosystem necessary to ‘Bring Urban Air Mobility to Life’.
In 2011, Volocopter performed the first-ever crewed flight of a purely electric multicopter and has since showcased numerous public flights with its full-scale aircraft. The most notable have been the public test flights at Singapore’s Marina Bay in October 2019 and the world’s first autonomous eVTOL flight in Dubai 2017. Volocopter is also developing products for the logistics space with their heavy-lift cargo variant, the VoloDrone.
Founded in 2011 by Stephan Wolf and Alexander Zosel, Volocopter has 400 employees in offices in Bruchsal, Munich, and Singapore. The company has raised a total of €322 million in equity. Volocopter‘s investors include Daimler, Geely, DB Schenker, BlackRock, and Intel Capital amongst others.
Find out more at: www.volocopter.com