Air taxi maker races to serve Paris Olympics as sector struggles for funds

A year ahead of the Paris Olympics, flying taxi maker Volocopter wants to prove to executives at the Paris Airshow it is on track to ferry customers around the sporting showcase and take off globally. The world's largest air show tends to focus on military and commercial planes. But electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft makers are also there in force, with Lilium announcing a deal on Monday for China's HeliShenzhen Eastern General Aviation to buy 100 of its jets. The sector's challenges are many, as firms need to secure regulatory approval and convince consumers they are safe, at a time when investors are also reining in funding. Germany's Volocopter is working to overcome these hurdles and launch the first commercial flying taxi service to take customers around Paris during the 2024 Olympics and will use the air show to demonstrate its progress. "The Olympics are our North Star," Volocopter CEO Dirk Hoke told Reuters. Success could boost the broader urban air mobility sector by persuading risk-averse investors that air taxis are worth putting money into, analysts and executives said. "I think with any of the timelines for early operations it will be helpful for the industry if they are met as it will create buzz," said Robin Riedel, who co-leads the McKinsey Center for Future Mobility at the management consulting firm. No flying taxi maker, whether Germany's Lilium or American player Joby, has received certification so far. Volocopter hopes to be the first, but still needs to run its aircraft through intensive weather tests and provide thousands of pages of documentation to Europe's regulator, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). "It's not a walk in the park to be the first to certify," Hoke said. Intensive weather tests will take place in Germany next month, with a pilot and passenger.<br/>