Volocopter one step closer to demo flights at Paris Olympics
German eVTOL manufacturer Volocopter is one step closer to conducting its planned public demonstration flights at the upcoming Paris Olympics, with the French government approving the use of a vertiport on the River Seine.
‘Vertiport de Paris-Austerlitz’, which will be constructed on a barge, will be the staging platform for Volocopter’s Volocity flights; building on plans announced at the 2023 Paris Air Show. Under limitations of the planning permission, the facility is for the exclusive use of the Volocity eVTOL, which can only between 8am and 5pm.
Demonstration flights – which will, owing to lack of type certification, not be carrying paying passengers – will be limited to two per hour, with the total number of movements capped at 900 over the entire experiment. It is expected the aircraft will fly under an ‘Permit to Fly,’ as the craft has not yet obtained the EASA SC-VTOL (Special Condition VTOL) certification it requires to enter commercial service.
Volocopter had originally intended to fly five to 10 aircraft in and around the capital during the games, with an estimated 10-minute tourist trip priced at (a subsidised) €110 per passenger.
In June 2023, Volocopter noted it was a “race against time” to lay the groundwork ahead of the scheduled summer 2024 launch, coinciding with the sporting events due to commence on 26 July. The manufacturer subsequently held further meetings with French infrastructure partners Groupe ADP and civil regulator Directorate General for Civil Aviation (DGAC) in April 2024.
However, reaction to the proposed flights has not been universally positive. In November 2023, Members of the Conseil de Paris unanimously rejected the flights as “absurd” and an “ecological aberration”, with Deputy Mayor Dan Lert dismissing the proposals as “a totally useless, hyper-polluting gimmick for a few ultra-privileged people in a hurry”. City still must still approve the project before it gets the final go-ahead.
