TODAY’S TALKER

Alert Elroy! Orlando is building nation’s first vertiport for flying cars

In an announcement that drew immediate comparisons to “the Jetsons,” the city of Orlando, Florida, and a German aviation company formally unveiled plans Wednesday to build the first hub for flying cars in the United States.

The 56,000-square-foot transportation hub, shown for the first time in renderings, resembles an airport terminal. Think Eero Saarinen.

The so-called vertiport is scheduled to be completed in 2025 and will enable passengers to bypass Florida’s notoriously congested highways, the city and the hub’s developers contend.

The electric-powered aircraft will be capable of taking off vertically from the groundbased hub and reaching a top speed of 186 mph, according to the Munich-based aviation company Lilium, which is working with the Orlando firm Tavistock Development Co. on the project.

But is the ambitious project, intended to introduce Lilium’s flying taxis as a more time-efficient if costlier alternative to ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft, viable? There is a caveat: The aircraft are still in the developmental phase.

Orlando officials don’t seem to be dissuaded by that uncertainty. On Monday, the City Council approved more than $800,000 in potential tax rebates to Lilium.

The site selected for the transportation hub is in Lake Nona, a 17-square-mile planned community within the city limits that is next to Orlando International Airport. It will require approval from the Federal Aviation Administration. The aircraft themselves will also fall under the agency’s oversight.