Volocopter tests air cab in Rome

The Bruchsal-based start-up is flying its cabs in Italian airspace for the first time.

Last Thursday, a Volocopter air cab hovered for the first time for a few minutes above Rome's Fiuminco Airport. At a meeting for the press, city representatives and female entrepreneurs, the start-up from Bruchsal in Baden-Württemberg, which was founded in 2011, showed how far its development has come. In 2024, Volocopter wants to offer flights from Fiuminco to Rome's city center.

Volocopter plans to offer piloted two- and four-seaters, as well as transport drones that will also operate autonomously. All of them take off vertically through an electric propulsion system. That's why they need so-called vertiports, which are built specifically for air cabs. This infrastructure is being built in Rome, Nice, Venice and Bologna to establish air cabs from 2024. The vertiport in Rome is the first in the country and thus a major milestone for Volocopter, as the startup writes in a press release.

Those who want to fly with Volocopter's offerings then will be able to book a seat via an app and head for special landing points in the city. In Rome, the time savings is about 25 minutes compared to train and car. It should take 20 minutes from Fiuminco to the city center.