Volocopter has completed the first ever crewed public test flight of a fully electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) air taxi in South Korea.
The five-minute test flight took place at Gimpo International Airport, covered a distance of approximately 3km, reached a maximum altitude of 50m and maximum speeds of 45 km/h.
The test flight was part of the ministry of transport’s urban air mobility (UAM) demonstration event – ‘Open the Urban Sky’.
Seoul is the second city in Asia that Volocopter has conducted a test flight following the first successful public flight trial over Singapore’s Marina Bay area in 2019.
Florian Reuter, CEO of Volocopter said, “With MOLIT’s comprehensive K-UAM roadmap, South Korea is well positioned to achieve the goal of commercializing UAM by 2025.
“We are extremely honored to conduct the nation’s first crewed public eVTOL test flight today and prove yet again that the future of air taxis is here and now with Volocopter’s aircraft.
“As the pioneers of the UAM industry, we look forward to working closely with friends and partners from both the government agencies and private sectors to make UAM a reality in South Korea.”
Volocopter is so far the only eVTOL company that has obtained design and production organisation approvals from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
Main image: Volocopter
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