Airbus pauses its air taxi project

The helicopter manufacturer Airbus Helicopters has discontinued the development of its electric air taxi in the southern German city of Donauwörth for the time being. The company confirmed this to the German radio station Bayrischer Rundfunk. The company did not say how long the break would last. However, there is no talk of a general cancellation of the air taxi project called CityAirbus for the time being.

According to insiders at Bayrischer Rundfunk, the main reason for the project being cancelled is that the batteries are not powerful enough. The technology is not yet ready for the electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL) to fly a distance of 100 kilometres with four passengers. According to Bruno Even, CEO of Airbus Helicopters, progress still needs to be made in a press conference. “We don’t see this technological maturity being reached in the near future.”

Ten years ago, Airbus tested its first prototype for an air taxi called Vahana in the USA. In 2019, Airbus then presented a prototype called CityAirbus in Ingolstadt. This was followed in spring 2024 by the CityAirbus NextGen model for three passengers plus pilot, which is designed to travel at 120 km/h and completed its first test flight in November 2024. It is precisely this model, which weighs 2.2 tonnes, that we are now talking about. The batteries for it are supplied by the aerospace division of Airbus from the south of France to

Airbus repeatedly spoke to Bayrischer Rundfunk radio about a “significant three-digit million euro sum” being invested in the development of electric flight. Just under a year ago, a new hall was inaugurated at the Donauwörth site at a cost of almost ten million euros specifically for the development of the CityAirbus NextGen.

With Airbus, Lilium and Volocopter, three German companies are involved in the race for the first market-ready air taxi. In addition to the technology itself, the multi-year certification and authorisation procedures are also a challenge for air taxi developers. Notable international rivals include Ehang and Xpeng Aeroht from China and Archer and Joby from the USA.

br.de (in German)