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 Volocopter's 2X eVTOL prototype made a short flight at Le Bourget Airport during the Paris Air Forum event on June 21. (Photo: Volocopter)

VOLOCOPTER'S EVTOL PROTOTYPE MAKES FRENCH PUBLIC DEBUT WITH LE BOURGET FLIGHT

• CHARLES ALCOCK
• JUNE 21, 20

Volocopter’s 2X eVTOL prototype made its first public flight in France today when it appeared at the Paris Air Forum event at the French capital’s Le Bourget Airport. The German manufacturer also displayed its VoloCity model inside Le Bourget’s historic terminal building.

In a three-minute, remotely piloted sortie, the Volocopter model flew a 500-meter (1,640-foot) circuit at an altitude of just 30 meters (98 feet), giving forum attendees a close look at the two-seat vehicle. A Pipistrel Velis Electro electric fixed-wing aircraft also participated in the short flying display on what would have been the first day of the 2021 Paris Air Show, which had to be canceled due to the Covid pandemic.

Volocopter is one of 30 companies and organizations participating in a collaborative project called Re.Invent Air Mobility to prepare for the planned launch of small-scale eVTOL air taxi services in and around Paris during the 2024 Olympic Games. The project is being led by airports group ADP and public transportation agency RATP.

The Paris Air Forum, which was organized by the La Tribune newspaper, included a discussion of what it will take to launch urban air mobility services. Volocopter CEO Florian Reuter was on the panel, along with France’s director-general of civil aviation Damien Caze, RATP director of strategy and development Marie-Claude Dupuis, Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport director Marc Houalla, and Thales avionics executive vice president Yannick Assouad. Dupuis confirmed that RATP, which runs buses, metro services, trains, and trams in Paris, intends to integrate eVTOL air taxis into the city’s transportation network.

Volocopter intends to start a flight test campaign in September with its eVTOL prototype using a so-called “sandbox” established at Pointoise Airport close to Paris. “Today, we were as close as ever before in France to experiencing electric aviation, said Edward Arkwright, deputy director of the ADP group.

Volocopter intends to deploy its 35-km (22-mile) range VoloCity eVTOL for urban services. It is also working on a longer-range and larger VoloConnect aircraft to expand services outside cities into suburban areas. In addition, the company is developing a freight eVTOL called the VoloDrone and plans to build VoloPort takeoff and landing sites.