Volocopter Begins Air Taxi Ticket Sales

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Urban air mobility (UAM) company Volocopter announced on Wednesday that it is now selling tickets for piloted air taxi flights in its VoloCity electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL). Angling to become “the first electric air taxi company to acquire paying end-customers,” Germany-based Volocopter is limiting its initial offering to 1,000 slots. The €300 ($355) tickets can be reserved for a 10 percent deposit and are good for a 15-minute flight “scheduled within the first 12 months after commercial launch” plus video of the experience.

“While the final certification for air taxis is still pending, we do have a detailed realistic timeline to launch commercial VoloCity flights in the next 2-3 years,” said Volocopter Chief Commercial Officer Christian Bauer. “Moreover, those who reserve now can receive the latest updates about our progress and the commercial launch plan.”

Volocopter flew its first eVTOL design in 2011 and unveiled the VoloCity, its fourth-generation model, last year. The VoloCity is expected to have a range of 35 km (19 NM), top airspeed of 110 km/h (59 knots) and payload of 200 kg (441 pounds). The company is planning to certify the aircraft under EASA’s new SC-VTOL rule.

Kate O'Connor
Kate O’Connor works as AVweb's Editor-in-Chief. She is a private pilot, certificated aircraft dispatcher, and graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

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14 COMMENTS

  1. Urban taxi ride at $350 a shot??? At those prices, my hunch is that potential passengers already own their own helicopter.

  2. Let’s see, at $355.00 for a fifteen minute ride, that amounts to $1,420.00 an hour! Probably somewhat close to what it costs to fly Marine One for about an hour? It’s kind of hard to imagine where you need to go to in fifteen minutes or less for $355.00!

    • Hmm… 15 minutes at 60 knots.
      (rents supercomputer to do the math)
      That’s 15 miles in 15 minutes.
      Distance from LaGuardia to Central Park: 10 nautical miles.
      Time LaGuardia to Central Park by volocopter: 10 minutes for $350.
      Time LaGuardia to Central Park by black car service: About an hour stuck in traffic for $50.
      So, going be eVTOL is 10 minutes for $350 with the best view in the world, going by car is an hour stuck in traffic for $50.
      Is it worth the $300 to not be stuck in traffic for an hour, and zoom over everyone at highway speeds for a direct-route?
      Evidently it is NOT worth it to you, which implies to me that you are desperately poor.

      • Following this logic pattern: $350 gets you there. Now, $350 gets you home. Assuming this is for a commute, citing the factors above, and not just a joy ride in a cool machine, that’s $3500 a week. That exceeds my definition of desperately poor. Also, for my 6’+, 245# frame, plus briefcase, samples, etc, I hope they have skinny pilots! Interesting concept, great for “get me there quick” meetings, but just not reading very high as of yet on the practicality meter.

  3. NO DOUBT! As for myself, I do not have a helicopter, therefore I do not have $350!!!!
    But a friend of mine has $350, therefore he has a helicopter!
    You logic is perfect!

  4. Brilliant marketing. Offer 1,000 seats, two to three years in advance for $35.50. For a $35.50 investment, 1,000 people will have bragging rights they will be part of a “first” risk free. Why? Because no body has flown yet. If they back out, who really would know? A $35.50 loss can be absorbed by most folks. There will be a percentage of them that will pay the balance to see their video plastered all over social media and YouTube.

    Volocopter gets $35,000 for two to three years to play with, with the added marketing caveat that their first launch passenger capacity is sold out. They could do this several times before this V-TOL becomes practical…if ever. Another bonus is Volocopter is now in personal touch with a 1,000 people offering all sorts of updates and progress reports. That is a great start for direct marketing that will surely multiply at $35.50 minimum entry investment. I am sure some of these $35.50 investors will be from SE Asia/China. Voila! The new aviation investment capitol for aviation capital is Beijing. Aviation financial future secure.

  5. I doubt these promo rides will be point A to point B – in other words, the flight will conclude at the point of departure. Like stepping onto and off of a Tilt-a-Whirl.

  6. Reminds me of Pan Am’s “First Moon Flights” Club in the ’60s: They took about 100,000 reservations for flights to the Moon. Didn’t charge a deposit, and you got a nifty membership card.

  7. If there’s a power failure, bird strike, computer failure, transmission failure, etc do we just die? Unless there’s a CAPS, I don’t see how fixed pitch blades are going to allow for autorotation. At least many of those failures will kill us very excitingly, as anyone who has accidentally brushed their drone against a tree branch can attest.

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