An airport for taxis? It will be in the English city of Coventry where England’s first air taxi will land. At least that is the plan that the authorities have unveiled in recent days, when an important project was announced that aims to establish the foundations of what would be the operation of air taxis.
- Flying cars will soon be able to land in the UK, thanks to the construction of a one-of-a-kind specialized airport
- It will be in the city of Coventry where air taxis are expected to land for the first time in England at the end of 2021.
- Air taxis are presented as an important alternative to land transport and commercial air connections between small cities.
According to information from Reuters, the project to implement air taxis in England is about to become a reality.
The first step, they say, will be the construction of an airport specialized in this type of transport, and the goal is to lay the foundations for the operation of air taxis.
It will be in the city of Coventry where the airport for flying cars will be installed; This, in addition, will be sponsored by important international companies, which have joined forces to finalize a project that has been in the making for several years.
Although there is still a long way to go to finalize the plans to implement the air taxi project, currently the companies involved are working to ensure that, once authorized, this means of transport has the necessary infrastructure to function effectively. .
The companies that are working together are Urban-Air Port and the automaker Hyundai Motor; These are aimed at creating an ideal infrastructure for air taxis to fly safely, either transporting people or merchandise between cities that generally do not have a commercial air connection.
According to the major news portals, it will be in November when visitors to Coventry can get a front row seat to how a flying car airport works.
One of the first scenes that visitors are expected to see will be passenger drone flights, as well as an electric vertical take-off and landing vehicle.
The latter is a type of specialized flight that resembles that of a helicopter, and that aims to quickly transport people who want to move between neighboring cities without having to use a highway or pay for a commercial flight.
One of the companies involved in the project, Urban-Air Port, was selected by the government as part of a program to encourage the creation of zero-emission air vehicles.
With a grant of 1.2 million pounds, equivalent to approximately 1.65 million dollars, the company will finance the temporary installation of the airport in the center of Coventry.
In this regard, Ricky Sandhu, founder and CEO of Urban Air-Port, said that ““With the backing of the UK government and the backing of the Hyundai Motor Group, we will develop the world’s first fully functioning airport”; Finally, the executive stated that “You can’t get on or off the train unless you get to the train station, so the supporting ground infrastructure is absolutely key.”
Photo: Shutterstock
Air Taxis: An Alternative to the Conventional Airport? Find out here!
The intention to build a special airport for air taxis is not new, but there has never been talk of a short-term project before, such as the new airport in Coventry.
A company called Lilium has been dedicated for some years to the construction of compact electric aircraft that can take off and land vertically, similar to that of a helicopter.
The main attraction of their design is that they will have space for a driver and four passengers, thus simulating the design of a conventional car.
Now, the future projection is to get users to access this type of transport through an application similar to Uber.
If achieved, travelers will be able to travel in air taxis over distances that cover a range of around 190 miles.
Another company of the same line of business, Volocopter, has also worked to venture into this area, as has Uber, which hopes to have a fleet of air taxis in 2023.
With an investment of approximately $ 375 million dollars, Lilium will create more specialized airports that will be able to serve as a connection with other regions in the United States.
At the same time, Lilium is working to establish a collaboration with the airports of Dusseldorf and Cologne / Bonn to start expanding the idea of regional-type air mobility.
In the medium term, there will be several airports that come into operation, but it is believed that the first of them will be located in Lake Nona, which means that Lilium’s aircraft will be able to travel within a radius of approximately 186 miles.
The startup also plans to develop a “variety of standardized vertiport designs”, which can be incorporated into urban and suburban infrastructure.
With this standardization of future vertiports, the cities and towns interested in joining the Lilium air transport network will be able to do so more efficiently, since it will be demonstrated that vertiports can be built with the minimum of affectations.
Finally, the executives emphasized that “The airport modules can be manufactured remotely, which will reduce costs and allow rapid construction on site.”
Source: Reuters / Forbes
