Plans to flight-test so-called air taxis carrying passengers during the Paris Olympic Games have been scrapped as certification for the vehicle’s engines were not secured in time, French airport operator ADP said on Thursday.
ADP, a partner in the project, and German manufacturer Volocopter, which conceived and developed the electric two-seater VoloCity, had hoped to use the Olympics to showcase the air taxis and the feasibility of carbon-free aviation in an urban environment. While the project has government approval, Paris city officials have criticised it as catering to the ultra-rich and causing noise pollution.
A test flight without passengers will, however, take place at the Chateau de Versailles, near Paris, on the closing day of the Olympics, ADP CEO Augustin de Romanet told Franceinfo radio.
Volocopter could not get the certification in time due to delays in the delivery of the vehicle’s motors by U.S. suppliers, Romanet said, echoing comments from Volocopter in local media.
The plan had been for passenger-carrying air taxis to land on a floating platform on the Seine river near the Austerlitz railway station in southern Paris during the Olympic Games.
Volocopter completed a crewed test flight earlier at the Saint-Cyr-L’Ecole aerodrome in the Paris region.
“This project will be postponed by a few weeks but we still hope to be able to fly it over the Seine river before Notre-Dame reopens,” Romanet said.
Notre-Dame Cathedral is slated to reopen in December 2024 five years after being ravaged by a fire.
Local authorities in Versailles have granted authorisation for the test-flight on Sunday and it is due to take off from the Grand Trianon building located in the grounds of the 17th century Versailles palace.
“This will allow us to show exceptional images of the take off of the vehicle that can save lives,” Romanet said, referring to the possibility that it could be used as an emergency vehicle.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)
