Director General of the Board of Directors of the Roads and Transport Authority in Dubai, Matar Al Tayer, revealed the provision of air taxi as a means of public transport in Dubai within three years, and no later than five years in the event of technical changes, stressing that the cost of the service cannot be cheap or Similar to the metro tariff, however, it will be within the reach of the higher proportion of public transport passengers, in order to record success and achieve feasibility in providing it.

Al Tayer spoke during a session on the future of mobility, which was held within the works of the Dubai International Project Management Forum.

Al Tayer stressed that the authority is currently continuing to work on three basic conditions to be able to provide the new service, namely: first, to implement a package of the right and appropriate laws and laws required to operate the service, and secondly, the readiness of the required technological technologies with specifications and standards that comply with the strict conditions applied globally and locally, in addition to the third condition, It is the creation of the appropriate infrastructure to use this type of transportation, in order to ensure the fulfillment of safety and security conditions, pointing out that the permissible limit for the height of the air taxi reaches 1500 feet, according to the current standards.

Al Tayer said that work is underway with the Civil Aviation Authority, where a joint technical team has been working for nearly a year to work out the required procedures to be able to provide the service according to conditions that guarantee efficiency, safety and security during its use, noting that the finalization of the finalization of procedures and policies to be applied is nearing completion , Before moving on to the next stage of work on the project.

Al Tayer also pointed out that a team from the authority will soon leave for the United States to hold technical meetings with a team of project implementation partners.

He expected to provide the service after three years, in the event that things go without obstacles related to the technology used to operate this type of transportation.

As for the cost of the service, Al Tayer said that the authority is working to make it accessible to the largest percentage of customers and passengers, but he stressed that it will not be cheap, especially when it is launched, and is likely to receive demand from businessmen and employees in higher positions.

He also stressed that the authority will do everything in its power to make the cost of service within the reach of the largest proportion of public transportation passengers, to ensure its success and continuity, and to increase the possibility of its approval in the future as a means of transportation added to other land and sea means currently used.

He said that there are a number of variables during the next 20 years, which will change the form of transportation, which requires the authority to work on studying various scenarios to predict how to deal with the variables, so as to ensure the provision of efficient and effective transportation and communications services.

Air taxi specifications

At the launch of the project, the Roads and Transport Authority announced the specifications for the air taxi. It included:

■ Touch screen in front of the passenger seat, which includes a map that includes all destinations in the form of points, and the preset paths for the vehicle.

The maximum weight of the vehicle with the passenger being 360 kilograms.

■ A fully equipped vehicle landing gear for emergency use.

The duration of the flight takes approximately 30 minutes, at a speed of 50 kilometers per hour.