Self-flying air taxi trials being extended at Tekapo

An American company has Civil Aviation Authority permission to extend its trials of autonomous air taxis in South Canterbury.

Wisk is aiming to produce a selfflying all-electric air taxi that can be used to skip earth-bound traffic in cities and has been in the Tekapo area since 2017 when testing began.

Wisk Asia Pacific region director Anna Kominik said the trials were to ‘‘safely evaluate, test and demonstrate the integration of unmanned aircraft into existing airspace’’.

‘‘The trial is expected to advance autonomous passenger transport in New Zealand and in other jurisdictions, as well as inform and support other trials in the airspace integration trial programme, focused around cargo delivery, agricultural services, and hazard management and monitoring services.’’

Kominik said the agreement with the Government is to conduct the trials in Canterbury with the next phase of trials expected to be in South Canterbury. It will not involve carrying passengers.

A CAA spokesperson said it was working closely with Wisk as it developed their testing programme.

‘‘Our role in the programme is to ensure the trials proceed safely and we are able to learn from these to support our ongoing oversight of emerging technologies in New Zealand’s aviation system.’’

‘‘We have had productive preliminary meetings with Wisk to discuss the next stage of its trials and how a small aircraft built by Insitu Pacific could be used as part of these trials instead of the larger Cora aircraft it has been testing in New Zealand to date,’’ the spokesperson said.

‘‘The next stage of trials will involve the use of aircraft and operations which are currently not provided for in Wisk’s operating certificate,’’ the spokesperson said.

Kominik said the New Zealand aerospace industry is ‘‘currently at the forefront of the emerging advanced air mobility industry and working through some of the very real challenges about how we integrate new forms of transport (passenger and cargo) into our airspace’’.

‘‘There are both regulatory and social/community challenges that we all need to figure out. Aerospace is already making a $2 billion contribution to New Zealand in terms of jobs, investment and in building the future pipeline of talent.

‘‘This completely new industry is expected to increase to $10b by 2030. In addition to Wisk, there are other really exciting Canterbury aerospace companies contributing to the industry, including Dawn Aerospace and Kea Aerospace.’’