CABS: AIR WE GO
Take-off plan within decade
FLYING taxis will be ferrying us around within a decade, say experts.
Prototypes will be tested at Elstree Aerodrome, near where classic films Star Wars and The Dam Busters took to the air.
The electric planes for up to four passengers will take off and land vertically, so will not need a runway.
“Aerotaxis” could fly between Elstree near to the M1 and a converted helipad at Canary Wharf, in east London.
The business called Skyports is financed by the billionaire Ryan family, the founders of budget airline Ryanair. The firm is already working on “vertiports” in Singapore, Paris and the US.
And it has deals with National Air Traffic Services to use Heathrow and City airports.
The plan is to offer the service to wealthy travellers who want to avoid traffic jams.
Duncan Walker, 43, the founder and chief executive of Skyports, said: “What we have here is something that has never been seen before anywhere in the world. We are one step closer to commercial operations.”