Air-taxi pioneer Volocopter GmbH is racing to obtain a key certification necessary to start ferrying passengers around the Paris Olympic Games in a year from now.
The German developer of electric vertical take-off and landing craft — or eVTOL — says it’s on track to get sign-off for its VoloCity aircraft from European regulators in the second quarter of 2024, right before the Olympics kick off on July 26.
“We told our teams already there will be a lot of sleepless nights,” Chief Executive Officer Dirk Hoke told reporters attending the Paris Air Show on Wednesday. “We never said it’s easy.”
Successfully launching passenger service in time for the Paris Olympics would hand the German startup bragging rights over rivals including Joby Aviation Inc. and Archer Aviation Inc. Volocopter plans to introduce a larger aircraft with greater capacity after the model with one pilot and one passenger is cleared, with Hoke saying the company “kept it simple as regulators prefer simple things.”
Volocopter has capacity to produce 50 VoloCity craft a year, the CEO said.
Volocopter, which has 700 employees and a track record with building gliders, plans to have 5 VoloCity air taxis at the Olympics, flying routes approved by the French aviation authority DGAC. They include one connecting the city with the Saint-Cyr aerodrome near Versailles, whose palace will host some Olympic competitions, and another from the Le Bourget airfield to the Charles de Gaulle airport. Those routes are already certified for standard helicopters, which made the approval process easier, Hoke said.
Volocopter already has certification for design and production of the VoloCity aircraft. The next hurdle will be getting the operating certificate, which it expects to obtain in September. That, in turn, will help pave the way for the crucial type certification next year by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.
There are no guarantees on when Volocopter will win approvals. The VoloCity uses multiple new technologies — including batteries to power the craft and innovative types of materials — that make it more complex for regulators to evaluate.
Hoke said he’s in touch with EASA on a daily basis as the race for certification heats up.
The aviation safety watchdog said it it’s working with Volocopter but declined to comment on timelines for certification.
Aeroports de Paris, which runs the French capital’s major airports, will operate the facility alongside partners. While one of the vertiports will sit on a floating barge on the Seine river in central Paris, Volocopter didn’t obtain permission to fly directly from Charles de Gaulle or Le Bourget airports into the city center due to buildings and other security concerns.
“We would love it but not in the first step,” Hoke said.
--With assistance from Siddharth Philip and Alan Levin.
