https://newatlas.com/aircraft/volocopter-singapore-tickets/

Volocopter sells out its first tourist eVTOL flights in Singapore
By Loz Blain
December 10, 2020

The Volocopter 2X made its first manned flight over Singapore’s
Marina Bay in October 2019

The Volocopter 2X made its first manned flight over Singapore’s Marina
Bay in October 2019Volocopter
VIEW 2 IMAGES http://newatlas-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com/6b/07/845b0d6a4c298d87f6c4ae715943/volocopter-singapur-public-flight-01.jpg

Germany's Volocopter has committed to launching commercial eVTOL
flights in Singapore "within the next two to three years," and advance
tickets have already sold out to early adopters eager to take the
first joyrides in this electric air taxi.

The company has been very active in Singapore, where it's done several
test flights, including a high-profile manned flight late in 2019.
Singapore doesn't strike us as a market that's crying out for air
taxis, what with its very small area, well-ordered roads and terrific
MRT subway system. It barely cracks the top 100 in TomTom's list of
cities ranked by traffic congestion, and we've never found it anywhere
near as annoying getting from A to B there as in, say, Los Angeles, or
Bangkok.

It does have plenty of money, though, and a solid tech research
sector, and evidently several friendly government bodies, including
the local aviation authority.

“Singapore is renowned for its leading role in adapting and living new technologies,” says Florian Reuter, CEO of Volocopter. “Our successful cooperation with the Economic Development Board, Ministry of
Transport, and Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore on our previous
flight has shown that there is no better place in Asia to launch our
electric air taxi services than in Singapore. The city’s research
institutes conducting R&D play an integral part in this. Topics like
route validation for autonomous operations, material science, and
research regarding battery technology are very important for our
long-term business success.”

The company will build up a team of more than 200 in Singapore over
the next three years, it says, and it's so confident that it has
already started selling tickets for the first round of joyrides. These
will be single-person flights; a pilot will take the other seat until autonomous flights have been given the green light.

The Volocopter has been flight tested over Singapore, and the
enterprise plans to go commercial by 2023
The Volocopter has been flight tested over Singapore, and the
enterprise plans to go commercial by 2023Volocopter
The VoloFirst flights, which sold out quickly even at €300 (US$365)
for what's likely to be a 10-15-minute scenic dalliance "over the
Southern waters, offering breathtaking views of the Marina Bay
skyline." Still, that's a ton cheaper than the only price we could
find on a helicopter flight: a special deal offering a four-person,
45-minute scenic helicopter flight over Singapore for SG$3,500
(US$2,600) – with no photography allowed. https://redboxgifts.com.sg/shop/helicopter-flight-45-minutes#horizontaltab2

The entire thing, of course, is contingent upon certification, and
Volocopter will have to be certified airworthy by the European
Aviation Safety Agency as well as the Singaporean authority before it
can take passengers. Although 2023 still feels early to us in the
eVTOL timeline, the Volocopter is one of the simplest air taxi designs
out there, harking right back to its early days as a flying yoga ball https://newatlas.com/first-manned-multicopter-flight/20345/?itm_source=newatlas&itm_medium=article-body
.

It doesn't have tilting rotors or wing-supported horizontal flight. It
doesn't attempt to achieve long range using a fancy hydrogen
powertrain. And it's a small, lightweight, battery powered pod with a
whole heap of rotors on top, offering a strong redundancy factor. So
compared to most of the emerging eVTOL air taxi designs https://newatlas.com/aircraft/evtol-air-taxi-flying-car-market-players/?itm_source=newatlas&itm_medium=article-body
, perhaps it'll be relatively easy to certify.

And considering its extremely limited range, which currently sits at
just 22 miles (35 km) between battery charges, maybe the compact city
of Singapore is indeed the perfect place to get started. The
Volocopter service will initially be a tourism initiative from
Singapore's perspective, but the company does plan to extend its
flights across the Malaysian border at some point.

Source: Volocopter: https://press.volocopter.com/index.php/volocopter-commits-to-launch-air-taxi-services-in-singapore

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