First Air Taxi Successfully Completes Test Flight in NEOM

The first air taxi successfully completed test flights in Saudi Arabia's NEOM on Wednesday, Jun. 21. 

The electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) had received authorization from the Kingdom's aviation authority, after which a week-long test run was conducted, which was completed on Wednesday.

The successful test run results from an 18-month-long collaboration between NEOM, the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA), and the urban mobility company Volocopter.

The team hopes to upscale the ecosystem and testbed in NEOM. 

The test run involved checking the flight performance in the local climate and environment as its integration into the local unmanned aircraft traffic management (UTM) system.

NEOM and Volocopter established a joint venture in 2021 to scale advanced air mobility, including an investment of $190 million from NEOM.

The eVTOLs will be an essential part of NEOM's mobility system. They will run on 100 percent renewable energy, which will be generated by solar and wind energy resources. 

The eVTOLs will be used as air taxis and emergency response vehicles. These vehicles produce less noise pollution and are cheaper than helicopters.

Volocopter has started serial production of these air taxis at their manufacturing facilities, which have the capacity to produce 50 eVTOLs per year.

Image source: Volocopter website