2023-08-26 07:27:55
Say goodbye to rush-hour traffic jams and long highway journeys: flying taxis might soon save valuable time on short journeys. And this is no longer science fiction: a company is planning first flights by 2026 in Ticino to begin with.
The Swiss company Air Dynamic, active in Ticino in particular, recently signed a partnership with the German company Lilium for the operation of a new type of aircraft taxi, namely an aircraft with fully electric vertical take-off and landing. The agreement provides for the delivery of five jet taxis.
Specializing in the chartering of private jets and helicopters between Switzerland, Italy and the south of France, Air Dynamic intends to operate these taxi planes on short routes, in particular between Lugano and Milan, where traffic jams are almost permanent, and this from 2026.
The Lilum, which aims to be innovative and durable, can carry a maximum of five passengers, including the pilot, and it can fly up to 280 km/h using around 30 electric motors.
No more airport
Interviewed Tuesday in La Matinale, Raffaella Meledandri, marketing director at Air Dynamic, notes that the flights will not exceed 175 kilometers in distance, i.e. essentially urban and regional routes. “What makes the difference is the fact that there is no longer any need for an airport. Our objective is to diversify urban take-off and landing points as much as possible”, she explains.
Raffaella Meledandri would also see these taxi planes flying in the Lake Geneva region or to reach the Vallée de Joux and its watchmaking companies, for example. The fact that it can reach city centers directly without going through airports, which are often far from the centres, is also an advantage.
For regional airports such as Sion, Bern, Saint-Gall or Lugano, this type of transport is also an advantage, because it offers a complementary service to traditional aviation.
“This type of mobility costs, but we are in a region that can finance it,” comments Davide Pedrioli, director of Lugano-Agno airport. Ticino is indeed a region where many wealthy foreigners reside, who travel frequently to reach an airport or a company or for high-end tourism. This type of customers will definitely use these air taxis.
>> A video presentation of a jet from the Lillium company:
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Test flights next year in Paris
This new type of flying device is called eVTOL by specialists, an acronym for “electrical vertical take-off and landing”. These electric aircraft more or less resemble large drones and their particularity is to be able to take and drop off passengers almost anywhere.
The first test flights with passengers should take place during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, a highly anticipated stage. For Maria Algar Ruiz, head of air mobility at EASA, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, “it will accelerate: following France, there will be Italy in 2025 and then many many countries will take the opportunity to think regarding air urban mobility applications”.
In Switzerland, things are moving quickly, but we still have to wait for the promulgation of the regulations of the European Agency for Aviation Safety. Afterwards, it will make its adjustments, in particular for the “vertiports”, i.e. these vertical landing and take-off points, outside traditional airports, and on the urban air corridors that these future flying taxis will be able to take.
No cost of these futuristic moves has been officially articulated. These taxi planes will initially be reserved for high-end travel, therefore intended for the wealthiest elites. However, in the long term, this new mobility will also develop in the interest of the entire population, assures the firm Lilium, which intends to market its device almost everywhere in the world.
Sujet radio: Nicole della Pietra
Web adaptation: Frédéric Boillat
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