AutoFlight, maker of electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles (eVTOL), has signed a partnership with Groupe ADP to test its devices during the 2024 Olympics – without passengers, the company announced on Thursday.
Founded in China in 2017, AutoFlight is headquartered in Shanghai but its research center is in Germany. Next summer it will begin its test flights at the Vertiport of Pontoise-Cormeilles-en-Vexin (Val-d’Oise, north of Paris), operated by Groupe ADP, which is developing five other Vertiports in the Paris region (at the Heliport Issy-les-Moulineaux, Paris-Austerlitz, Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle Airport, Le Bourget Airport and Saint-Cyr-l Aerodrome École).
The Pontoise Vertiport offers a complete infrastructure with a take-off and landing area, a passenger reception terminal and control areas, AutoFlight said in its Thursday press release.
AFP
The company, which employs around 400 people, expects its eVTOL cargo – for transporting goods – to be approved in China in 2024, before being launched in Europe for passenger transport in 2027.
She’s not the only one in the ranks of eVTOL, which is attracting more and more interest and funds. The German Volocopter has taken on a small pioneering role and is scheduled to operate commercial flights with passengers for the Paris Olympics next summer.
Since 2021, Volocopter has been conducting test campaigns for its “VoloCity” devices at Pontoise Airport, in collaboration with Groupe ADP and the Île-de-France region. The company is currently trying to get the European certification that will allow it to fly and is hoping for a green light from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in spring 2024.
AFP
“The market for advanced air mobility will be so big that there’s room for ten good companies,” Mark Robert Henning, AutoFlight’s director for Europe, told AFP. “First, all eVTOL players need to work together.”
AutoFlight aims to start with annual production of 100 aircraft and says it has received letters of intent for 780 of its eVTOLs – for passenger and cargo aircraft – primarily from Asia and the Middle East