PLANE passengers will be able to take a flying taxi into city centres from the airport, under plans announced yesterday.
They will be transported on an electric-powered mini-helicopter, cutting transfer times to just eight minutes.
Plane passengers will be able to take a flying taxi into city centres from the airport, under plans announced[/caption]
The four-seater air taxis, capable of up to 200mph, can take off and land vertically but with a tiny fraction of the noise produced by typical helicopters.
They can cover up to 100 miles and will cost the same as a typical premium taxi service.
The vision was unveiled by Virgin Atlantic, which has teamed up with US-based aircraft maker Joby Aviation
Their plans need to overcome regulatory hurdles before any start dates are pencilled in.
But it is hoped the zero-emission taxis will be rolled out first at Heathrow and Manchester.
Journeys could include a 15-minute flight from Manchester Airport to Leeds, or an eight- minute trip from Heathrow to Canary Wharf.
The mini-helicopters have already completed thousands of test flights.
‘Stuff of science fiction’
By Lisa Minot, Head of Travel
IT may seem like the stuff of science fiction but very soon we could be seeing these innovative, electric taxis in the skies above us.
While obviously still at the very start of their journey, the ability to hop from airport to city centre in as little as eight minutes is an astonishing ambition.
And start-up Joby couldn’t have found a better partner than Virgin Atlantic – which has more than 40 years of experience in disrupting the aviation inudstry.
The key to success – if all the regulatory hurdles are overcome – will be the scalability of the business and the pricing.
Helicopter transfers are nothing new – but require very deep pockets.
And our already bursting at the seams airports would need to find room for the ‘vertiports’ the taxis will take off and land from – as well as have the charging infrastructure to keep them running.
It will also require a lot of work to convince the travelling public that these new and unfamiliar forms of air travel are safe and reliable.
