In order to support the air taxi operations, Volocopter has planned to establish an initial operation team of 50 personnel which will include pilots, engineers, operation specialists, and business managers. The team size is expected to grow to over 200 employees by 2026. Aside from that, the company also expects that the first route for the air taxi services will be within the Marina Bay area. This is not exactly surprising though as the area is not only quite popular among tourists but Volocopter has also conducted its first manned test flights in Singapore over there as well. Earlier this year, Volocopter has accepted a limited number of reservations for its air taxi flights. Even though the ride duration will only be 15 minutes and costs a rather hefty EU 300 (~RM 1476) per person, all 1000 tickets have been sold out. (L to R): Volocopter VC200 and Volocopter 2X. – [Nikolay Kazakov/Volocopter]In the announcement today, the company who is also working on a feasibility study with Grab has stated that cross-border flights are part of its future plan too. This is something that could be a matter of interest for our government given Malaysia’s proximity to Singapore. That being said, Malaysia still has a lot of things that it needs to sort out first though, in order to get the urban air mobility industry off the ground.
