Flight taxis: Now it goes steeply upwards

Some are taking off - others are taking care of the basics first. Several German start-ups from the air taxi sector are currently announcing important steps.

There is a lot going on in the German urban air mobility scene. The air taxi manufacturer Volocopter from Kraichgau announced on Wednesday that it intends to deploy its multicopters in Singapore within three years. In cooperation with the Southeast Asian city-state's economic development agency and aviation regulator, the German company wants to make Singapore the first country in the region to have regular air taxi operations. Volocopter has already been active in the country for two years, and now the Bruchsal-based company is also establishing an Asian holding company to coordinate business there.

Munich-based start-up D3 Technologies is not quite as far along yet. The company is working on an integrated traffic management system that will also help with route planning above the road and guarantee the safety of urban air traffic. The company, which was founded last year by aviation start-up veteran Corvin Huber, has now completed its second seed funding round. According to the company, 2.9 million euros have been raised. Investors include SEK Ventures, the vehicle of the Flixbus founders. In order to be able to test its system soon, D3 wants to use the money to develop an initial application for pilots by next year.