A taxi flying above the roofs of Paris? This is the promise that we expected for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. However, this utopian project took a hit when the Council of State canceled the creation of a take-off platform and landing.
It was a utopian project, which would have given Paris tunes of “Fifth element“. Of the flying taxisto cross the capital without worrying about traffic jams. In January 2021, RATP, Aéroports de Paris (ADP) and Choose Paris Region, revealed the names of the 31 actors selected for “ develop an urban air mobility sector around the vertical take-off vehicle ». Ces flying taxis should have been available to tourists and residents of Île-de-France by 2024 Olympic Gamesaccording to the promises of these companies.
These unique flying machines were to be a bus, a helicopter and a drone at the same time. Devices “ clean “, that’s to say ” decarbonized » fossil fuels, operating at electricitysee possibly hydrogen. The instigators of this project worked hand in hand with the German company Volocopterwho created the Volocity, a miniature helicopter equipped with a touch screen where users enter their destination, and which can go up to 80 km/h, at an altitude of 200 or 300 meters.
This flying taxi project has suffered several delays and setbacks. In July 2024, the Council of State had however given provisional authorization to install a “vertiport” at Paris Austerlitz. Finally, this Wednesday, December 18, 2024, the public institution decided to cancel the ministerial decree authorizing the creation of this takeoff and landing base.
The Council of State ruled in favor of the organizations opposed to this project, including the City of Parisand several associations fighting against air pollution.
The future of this project now seems compromised: already last November, the Île-de-France regional council had preferred cancel your grant of one million euros, money which had been granted the previous year to Aéroports de Paris. The region then pointed out the delays and technical and regulatory inadequacies.
