Volocopter

Archer has its sights set on making air taxis a thing really soon. It's just revealed plans for a network of vertiports from which its electric aircraft can take off and land in NYC – so you can beat street traffic and get around town in minutes.

On the heels of eVTOL startup Lilium shutting down, air taxi builder Volocopter may close its doors having filed for insolvency due to lack of funds. On December 26, 2024, the Karlsruhe Local Court in Germany placed the company in administration.

Volocopter's plans to trial air taxi passenger flights from a floating platform on the River Seine during the Olympics have been thwarted by bureaucracy. However, the company has managed to kick off the eVTOL operational validation phase.

While eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft certainly are fascinating, it's hard to say how many will ever be anything more than concepts. Volocopter's VoloConnect may be the real deal, however, as it flew for the first time in May.

Volocopter's ambitions in the flying taxi space have taken another step forward, with the startup's electric aircraft performing its first crewed flight in South Korea as the country eyes a proper lift-off for a commercial air taxi service in 2025.

Better known for its work developing 18-rotor flying taxis, Volocopter is adapting its expertise in electric aviation for the purposes of moving heavy cargo, and its giant VoloDrone has now completed its very first public flight.

As it aggressively pursues a future where flying taxis carry people and cargo between busy urban centers, German aviation startup Volocopter has ticked off an important milestone, making a public demo flight in the USA with a pilot on board.

Volocopter has added to its suite of futuristic air taxis with a fixed-wing version designed to carry more people across greater distances, offering more seats and greater range than its previous all-electric aircraft.

Hundreds of eVTOL companies are jostling for position as next-gen flying taxis approach their prime-time debut – but which of these futuristic aircraft will really take off? Sergio Cecutta talks us through his "Advanced Air Mobility Reality Index."

Germany's Volocopter has committed to launching commercial eVTOL flights in Singapore "within the next two to three years," and advance tickets have already sold out to early adopters eager to take the first joyrides in this electric air taxi.

A feasibility study modeled on the VoloCity multirotor electric air taxi has concluded that electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft would benefit emergency air rescue services. Now the project is looking to begin operational testing in 2023.

Paris Region, ADP and RATP are eyeing the development of an urban air mobility branch ahead of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, and have joined forces with German air taxi startup Volocopter to make it happen.