Paris The Gare d’Austerlitz is one of the most important hubs in Paris. At the station in the south-east of the French capital, passengers can connect to the TGV express train, suburban trains, buses and metro. In the summer of 2024, a new mode of transport will be added: air taxis.
The airport operator Aéroports de Paris (ADP) is planning a floating platform on the Seine directly at the Gare d’Austerlitz, from which electrically powered mini planes from the German start-up Volocopter are to take off. It is one of five take-off and landing sites that Paris plans to be the first metropolis in the world to offer a commercial air taxi network during next year’s Olympic Games.
There is a lot of hype about electrically powered aircraft that can take off and land vertically. The so-called electric vertical take-off-and-landing aircraft (eVTOL for short) could develop into a climate-friendly and fast alternative in city traffic. Companies and metropolises are in a race to see who will bring the technology to market first and where.
“We want to become the leading region in urban aviation,” says Valérie Pécresse, President of the Capital Region Île-de-France. Volocopter boss Dirk Hoke sees the flights over the densely populated metropolis as an important test for the broader market launch. “If we can fly in Paris, then we can fly anywhere.”
However, it is not yet certain whether the project will continue after the Olympic and Paralympic Games. And the approval process could be tight: Volocopter does not expect the final certification of the aircraft equipped with 18 rotors by the European aviation safety authority EASA until spring 2024.
Pécresse therefore speaks of an “experiment” for the time being. The offer is still a long way from a real solution for local transport and is more reminiscent of sightseeing flights in a helicopter. The “VoloCity” has only two seats – and the pilot sits on one of them.
In addition to the air taxi stand at Gare d’Austerlitz, four more landing sites are to be built: on the southwestern outskirts of the city, in the suburb of Versailles, at Charles de Gaulle International Airport and at the smaller Le Bourget Airport, where the Olympic media center will be located.
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According to Pécresse, a dozen “VoloCity” planes will then be flying in Paris airspace. The ADP boss Augustin de Romanet had given the possible ticket price as 110 euros per trip, which Volocopter did not confirm. However, the trips will be subsidized and made affordable for many people, announced Volocopter boss Hoke.
For the company from Bruchsal in Baden-Württemberg, Paris is not yet about making money, but above all about improving its image. The competition is fierce, and the take-off date of their aircraft is of great symbolic importance to companies.
“Starting with the two-seater allows us to enter the market now and not two years from now,” says Hoke. A multi-seater is already being developed, but still depends on the availability of more powerful batteries. In perspective, the manager places the airfare in the range of an “expensive taxi ride”, we are talking about three to four euros per passenger per kilometer.
The so-called electric vertical take-off-and-landing aircraft (eVTOL for short) could develop into a climate-friendly and fast alternative in city traffic.
(Photo: Reuters)
The industry was more strongly represented than ever at the Paris Air Show last week. The eVTOL developers filled an entire exhibition hall with futuristic-looking prototypes. The US company Archer presented a four-seater that is to connect New York’s Newark Airport with Manhattan from 2025.
Race to market maturity
“A quick market entry is of course important – especially with regard to finance and the financial market,” explains Daniel Wiegand, co-founder of the Munich-based eVTOL developer Lilium. “Aviation is a very long-term business, so every month doesn’t really matter in terms of development.” But every month costs money, and investors should remain confident.
But safety is always the top priority, says Wiegand. The eVTOL models have to go through an approval process at the European Aviation Safety Authority EASA with the same safety standards as commercial aircraft.
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Lilium has its stand at the Paris Air Show in the immediate vicinity of Volocopter. Unlike the competition from Baden-Württemberg, however, the Bavarians rely on jet propulsion. In addition, they do not concentrate on inner-city routes, but on short regional connections.
It is an affluent market that is currently served by helicopters and business jets. Nevertheless, Wiegand says: “We are aiming for a seat not to cost much more than an ICE ticket in the medium term.” For the first time after the market launch planned for 2025, Lilium sees its eVTOLs in the premium segment in terms of price.
For Guillaume Faury, head of the world’s largest aircraft manufacturer Airbus, the eVTOL newcomers currently have no business model. “The costs are currently simply too high,” said Faury in an interview with the Handelsblatt. He evaluated the air taxi plans in Paris cautiously: “In my view, the technological solutions are not yet good enough for market entry, and there is no certification yet.”
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