"We are going to create the first European + vertiport + here", enthusiastic Augustin de Romanet, CEO of Groupe ADP, manager of Ile-de-France airports, by participating in the inauguration of this area installed at Pontoise-Cormeilles airport. en-Vexin, 35 km north-west of Paris.
"This inauguration kicks off the first experiments in real conditions on electric vehicles with vertical takeoff and landing" (eVTOL, their acronym), according to a joint press release from ADP, the Ile-de-France Region and of the RATP.
The transport company will provide the project with its laboratory analyzing noise and vibrations, explained to AFP its CEO, Catherine Guillouard: even much quieter than helicopters, "it is very important that these new vehicles and their operation is acceptable to the population ".
The first eVTOL tested will be that of the German company Volocopter, but other start-ups such as Vertical Aerospace, Ascendance and Lilium are participating in the project, as are Airbus and Thales.
Pontoise airport was chosen because it is a "complete airport, with a runway of 1,600 meters, a fire station, a control tower", remarked Edward Arkwright, number 2 of ADP. : "we want to test all the components of the device" during these operations which will start "at the end of February, beginning of March".
There is also the question of the "social acceptability" of these devices, acknowledged Ms. Guillouard, who hopes to see flying taxis transporting "a few thousand passengers every day at the end of the decade".
The goal is to limit the cost of a race to "twice the price of a VTC", or a hundred euros, according to her.
Subject to certification, the project participants would like to set up two experimental lines, showcases of their know-how, during the 2024 Olympic Games: Issy-les-Moulineaux - Saint-Cyr (Yvelines) heliport, and Roissy- Le Bourget-Paris.
"These are not + gadgets + that will be tested here. These are technologies that will change the aeronautics industry", enthusiastically the Minister Delegate for Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, welcoming projects that make pass in the "reality" of mobilities so far "imaginary" seen in films like "Back to the future" or "The Fifth Element".
© 2021 AFP