World’s first heliport for flying taxis to be revealed in Singapore
UK-based company Skyports Ltd. is building the world’s first “vertiport” for electric aircraft in Singapore, an early step towards a global network for flying taxis, Bloomberg News reported.
The port will be revealed at Marina Bay during the Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress from October 21 to 25. Germany’s Volocopter will bring along its electric aircraft for a demonstration flight.
“Helicopters have been around a long time but they’re not well used, particularly in cities, because they’re noisy, dangerous and polluting,” Skyports’ managing director Duncan Walker told the agency.
“We’re really trying to make it a form of transportation for anybody, not just the extremely wealthy,” he said.
Skyports built the Voloport in China then took it apart to be re-assembled in Singapore near the iconic Marina Bay Sands Hotel. Walker is in talks to establish permanent Voloports around the island. One obvious connection could be to the resort island of Sentosa, just a short hop across the water.
Visitors will get to sit inside the aircraft on the ground and a test pilot will take it up for a solo demo flight, said Volocopter spokeswoman Helena Treeck: “We want to see how the public reacts to it, whether it’s too loud, whether they would feel safe flying in it.”
A Citigroup report released in September expects designers to keep tweaking the technology and working with regulators so they can start to offer regular air taxi services from 2025 in a market for air taxis that could be worth $5 billion by the end of the next decade.
It could be even sooner, with Uber Technologies targeting launches in Los Angeles, Dallas and Melbourne as early as 2023. As many as 20,000 electric passenger aircraft could be sold annually by 2030, Citigroup said.
UK-based company Skyports Ltd. is building the world’s first “vertiport” for electric aircraft in Singapore, an early step towards a global network for flying taxis, Bloomberg News reported. The port will be revealed at Marina Bay during the Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress from October 21 to 25. Germany’s Volocopter will bring along its electric aircraft for a demonstration flight. “Helicopters have been around a long time but they’re not well used, particularly in cities, because they’re noisy, dangerous and polluting,” Skyports' managing director Duncan Walker told the agency. "We’re really trying to make it a form of transportation for anybody, not just the extremely...
UK-based company Skyports Ltd. is building the world’s first “vertiport” for electric aircraft in Singapore, an early step towards a global network for flying taxis, Bloomberg News reported.
The port will be revealed at Marina Bay during the Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress from October 21 to 25. Germany’s Volocopter will bring along its electric aircraft for a demonstration flight.
“Helicopters have been around a long time but they’re not well used, particularly in cities, because they’re noisy, dangerous and polluting,” Skyports’ managing director Duncan Walker told the agency.
“We’re really trying to make it a form of transportation for anybody, not just the extremely wealthy,” he said.
Skyports built the Voloport in China then took it apart to be re-assembled in Singapore near the iconic Marina Bay Sands Hotel. Walker is in talks to establish permanent Voloports around the island. One obvious connection could be to the resort island of Sentosa, just a short hop across the water.
Visitors will get to sit inside the aircraft on the ground and a test pilot will take it up for a solo demo flight, said Volocopter spokeswoman Helena Treeck: “We want to see how the public reacts to it, whether it’s too loud, whether they would feel safe flying in it.”
A Citigroup report released in September expects designers to keep tweaking the technology and working with regulators so they can start to offer regular air taxi services from 2025 in a market for air taxis that could be worth $5 billion by the end of the next decade.
It could be even sooner, with Uber Technologies targeting launches in Los Angeles, Dallas and Melbourne as early as 2023. As many as 20,000 electric passenger aircraft could be sold annually by 2030, Citigroup said.
