Are we dreaming or did The Jetsons actually predict flying vehicles?
Last year, American Airlines preordered 250 flying taxis from British startup Vertical Aerospace and on Monday, the first piloted test flights went as planned. This is a milestone achievement in the development of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft technology.
Vertical Aerospace designed the VX4 flying taxi to carry four passengers on 30-minute flights between airports and cities to combat traffic congestion and carbon emissions, being more energy efficient to run than vehicles.
American announced in July that it paid for the pre-delivery of 50 VX4s, with 200 on order and an option for 100 more. The aircraft vehicles are also attracting plenty of interest from other major airlines and tourism companies around the world.
Vertical Aerospace plans to continue VX4 testing with the goal to increase the altitude and speed with each new test flight. The company hopes to have the VX4 certified by 2025.
Just imagine the ease of quickly getting to JFK from La Guardia after you accidentally took a snooze in the back of an Uber and realized you put in the wrong airport… Oh, just me? Okay.
by travelers, for travelers.
