Volcopter might not fly during the Olympic Games after all

David Belliard, Deputy Mayor of Paris and responsible for transforming public space, transportation, and mobility, told France Bleu that the city would try to fight the government decree. The reason? Only the rich would benefit.

“130 euros for a journey of 35 kilometres is absurd. We are really in an abnormal situation and despite everything, despite the opposition of the Paris Council, despite the fact that this government no longer has any legitimacy, it is proceeding vigorously to please some lobbies,” the Debuty Mayor told the French media outlet.

The Olympic Games were supposed to showcase the practicability of air taxis, which is why Volocopter wanted to set up five so-called Vertiports in and around Paris. Four of them – at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle and Le Bourget airports, in Issy-les-Moulineaux south-west of Paris and at Saint-Cyr-l’Ecole airfield near Versailles – were already ready to go. The company was simply waiting for permission to install the fifth one, a barge in the middle of the River Seine running through the French capital.

According to the French government, the German electric aerial taxi developer Volocopter will be allowed to operate the platform near Gare Austerlitz until the end of the year.

In March, the company had gotten the necessary permission for series production for its VoloCity. About a year ago, Volocopter announced that it was nearing production readiness in its facility in Bruchsal, after completing its first test flights back in 2022. The company already has orders waiting as well, such as the 15 eVTOL order from Neom, Saudi Arabia, that was issued in 2021. At the time, it was said that flight operations would begin in “two to three years.”

francebleu.fr (in French)