UK regulator looking at designs for flying taxi airports

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Britain's aviation regulator is studying designs for flying taxi airports, it said on Wednesday, as the arrival of a new mode of transport edges closer.

Electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL), also known as flying taxis or air taxis, have been touted as the future of urban air mobility.

The low-altitude aircraft would travel between cities and airports, avoiding traffic, but would face a number of challenges before they could become a reality.

As well as needing to secure regulatory approval and convince consumers they are safe, eVTOLs need infrastructure for landing and take-off.

Britain's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said it was launching a consultation on how eVTOL airports, called "vertiports," would fit into existing small airfields and how they would operate safely and efficiently.

"This consultation is a big step towards enabling this new and innovative way of traveling to become part of our everyday life," the CAA's head of future safety and innovation, Sophie O'Sullivan, said in a statement.

The CAA said small airfields would be the best places for vertiports at first.

(Cover via CFP.)

Source(s): Reuters