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Flying taxis could become mainstream as soon as by 2024
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Seletar Airport is positioning itself as a new mobility hub
Just 20 minutes north-west of Singapore’s Changi Airport — regularly voted the world’s best — is Seletar Airport, the city-state’s second, and far well less known, airfield. It’s predominantly where the super rich land in their private jets. It’s also where the future of aviation could be taking off.
The neighborhood, more known for its laid-back cafes in restored British-era colonial buildings and sleepy fishing villages, is positioning itself as a hub for flying taxis. Singapore has already signed two agreements with advanced air mobility startups Skyports Ltd. and Volocopter GmbH that may convert the aging aerodrome into a vertiport, or an airport where the aerial devices take off and land vertically, Jetsons-style.
It isn’t some way off dream, either. Plans for flying taxis to be operational at Seletar are pretty immediate — as soon as 2024 — and the airport, or vertiport, could serve as a global model for what the future of mobility may look like.
Recent interest in so-called eVTOLs (electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles) has been immense. Electric cabs stole the limelight at this year’s Singapore Air Show in February with Malaysian tycoon Tony Fernandes of AirAsia fame placing an order to rent at least 100 of them from Vertical Aerospace Ltd. Carriers including American Airlines Inc. and Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. have also ordered scores of eVTOLs.
“Singapore is, and continues to strive to be, the world leader in mobility, and this development is another brick in that wall,” said Sunny Xi, a principal at consultancy Oliver Wyman’s transportation and services practice. “This is more than simply solving traffic on roads. Singapore has all the right ingredients to test, learn and scale both the mobility adoption and the business to then export it across the world.”
But flying taxis — until recently the stuff of science fiction — have one big and crucial hurdle to clear. Not one has been approved by regulators anywhere to actually take to the skies with passengers onboard. Authorities can take years to approve new technology and it’s only recently that flying taxis have a taken the giant leap from being a concept to a reality. Regulators are now examining the safety of such vehicles before green lighting them for commercial operations.
Companies like Volocopter say it’s just a matter of time, and Asia will play a large role in eVTOL adoption.
“In Asia, you have a high concentration of mega cities that you don’t have in any other region,” Christian Bauer, Volocopter’s chief commercial officer, said in an interview. “This new industry is innovative, it’s good for inhabitants, for tourists, and also for cross-border connections to relieve the pain of congestion.”
Volocopter, which predicts S$4.2 billion ($3 billion) of cumulative economic benefits to Singapore and as many as 1,300 local jobs by 2030 from the industry, is showcasing its aircraft in the city-state later this month to increase public awareness. It’s also talked up the “political benefits” including reduced car ownership and the ability of Singapore to position itself as a torchbearer for the rest of Asia.
Fares for passengers are expected to start at about 40% of the cost of a helicopter, according to Bauer. That could drop to around the price of a premium taxi within five to six years, he said.
“This makes it interesting for anyone who can afford a taxi to take a Volocopter instead,” Bauer said, adding that the company’s service will be “very silent compared to a helicopter. You will not hear it at all.”
Volocopter’s backers include Chinese automaking powerhouse Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. as well as German logistics firm DB Schenker and the venture capital arm of chipmaker Intel Corp. Skyports is supported by Japan’s Kanematsu Corp. and Goodman Group in Australia, and counts Ken Allen, the CEO of DHL eCommerce, as a board member.
