Cormeilles-en-Vexin (France) (AFP)
The aerodrome of Pontoise-Cormeilles-en-Vexin (Val d'Oise) will host from June 2021 tests in real situation of a flying taxi, with a view to a demonstrator for the 2024 Olympics, announced on Wednesday the Île-de-France region, Groupe ADP and RATP.
It is the electric vehicle with vertical take-off VoloCity, of the German manufacturer Volocopter, which was chosen to carry out the first experiments in Île-de-France of insertion of these devices in a peri-urban environment and an aeronautical environment on the aerodrome located 35 km north of Paris.
The tests will also focus on its acceptance by local residents, safety procedures and maintenance.
"The whole ecosystem" is going to be tested, explained Edward Arkwright, executive general manager of Groupe ADP, a project partner with RATP and the Ile-de-France region, through his promotion agency "Choose Paris ".
VoloCity, fully electric, is equipped with 18 motors and nine batteries.
It can carry two people including a pilot.
It flies at 110 km / h, at an altitude of 400 to 500 meters and with a range of 35 km.
The aircraft is in the process of being certified by the European Safety Agency (EASA), explained Fabien Nestmann, one of the managers of Volocopter, adding that the manufacturer hoped for certification by the European regulator within "two to three years. ".
"We want a demonstrator for the 2024 Olympic Games", declared Valérie Pécresse, president of the Ile-de-France region, during a ceremony to launch an "urban air mobility sector".
The ambition of the project is to make the Ile-de-France region "a reference region in the global urban air mobility market", she added.
"The moment when you will take a ticket by internet to get in there, it is rather around 2030. But it is tomorrow", explained to journalists Catherine Guillouard, CEO of RATP.
Ultimately, "we will be able to integrate mini take-off and landing zones into the urban fabric, which also requires acceptability and the issue of noise will be fundamental", she said.
A call for expressions of international interest was launched on issues of infrastructure, integration into the airspace and social and environmental acceptability in particular.
Regarding the manufacturers, "Volocopter responded in advance but we have other expressions of interest. Anyone who wants to test will be able to do so from June 2021, without any other constraint than that of respecting a specification: aviation clean without nuisance and safe, ”explained Mr. Arkwright.
© 2020 AFP