Flying-taxi company Volocopter now selling tickets for first time riders
Flying taxis, flying cars, call them what you will, are getting closer to entering service, and this is the first time a company has sold tickets to travel in them.
Key takeaways
- On Wednesday, the German aviation startup, which is backed by none other than Mercedez Benz, announced that it’s now taking reservations for its very first flights.
- During that time, the company has developed five aircraft, the most recent of which, the VoloCity, will be the basis for its air taxi fleet.
- The company announced that only 1,000 seats would be made available, of which only 641 remain as of press time.
Cite or link to this article
Griffin, M. (2020) 'Flying-taxi company Volocopter now selling tickets for first time riders', 311 Institute, 23 September. Available at: https://www.311institute.com/flying-taxi-company-volocopter-now-selling-tickets-for-first-time-riders/ (Accessed: 1 October 2026).
After nearly a decade of development and testing, and much hype, and more than three years after Dubai announced its own aspirations to be the first to launch a flying robo-taxi service, Volocopter says it’s finally ready for its fleet of robo-sky taxis to take to take off with its paying passengers. Furthermore, the company is so confident in its ability to get all the flight certifications it needs to make that happen that it’s already selling tickets for those early rides in the sky.
On Wednesday, the German aviation startup, which is backed by none other than Mercedez Benz, announced that it’s now taking reservations for its very first flights. Each “VoloFirst” ticket comes with a 15-minute flight aboard one of the company’s VoloCity aircrafts, a video of the trip and an official personalized certificate from the startup.
While Volocopter, which has been on my radar since 2016, is still waiting on certification from the local authorities it has decided to start selling tickets for public flights because of its recent successful tests in Germany, Finland and Singapore, according to a press release. But, because it is still waiting on full approval there are no set dates for the flights yet even though the company expects to commercially launch in the next “two to three years.”
Founded in the early part of the last decade, Volocopter is one of a handful of aviation companies working to make the flying car a reality. During that time, the company has developed five aircraft, the most recent of which, the VoloCity, will be the basis for its air taxi fleet. That 18-rotor eVOTL has room for two passengers, has a range of over 21 miles and can reach a top speed of 62 mph.
“Based on our public test flights and regulatory achievement record, we have paved the way to make electric flight in cities common in just a few years,” CEO Florian Reuter said in a statement. “With the start of reservations, we now invite our supporters and innovators around the world to join us and be amongst the first to experience this new and exciting form of mobility.”
Aviation enthusiasts have until December 31 this year to reserve a spot on one of Volocopter’s “VoloFirst” flights. Tickets cost €300 (about $355), meaning you’ll pay around $24 for every minute in the air, and can be reserved through this website with a 10 percent deposit. The company announced that only 1,000 seats would be made available, of which only 641 remain as of press time.
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Why does this matter?
Flying taxis, flying cars, call them what you will, are getting closer to entering service, and this is the first time a company has sold tickets to travel in them.
About the author
Matthew Griffin Founder, 311 Institute
Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath."
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Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath." 15-time best selling author of the "Codex of the Future" series, Matthew is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working with royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77 governments, NGOs, and multi-national mid and mega cap firms to help them explore, shape, and lead the next 50 years of business and society.
An award-winning YouTube creator with over a million followers, with an unrivalled global reach and impact, Matthew is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker, lecturer, and mentor who collaborates with global leaders through the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to shape pivotal initiatives such as the UN’s AI for Humanity program, the United Nations Conference of the Parties (UN COP), and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
As the former Global Head of Cloud, National Security, and Enterprise Sales for companies including Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, Matthew has a proven track record of building multi-billion dollar business units and turning failing divisions into market leaders. His ability to identify, analyse, and communicate the implications of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends is unparalleled, and his insights are trusted by many of the world’s most respected organisations, including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi, Coca-Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Dow Jones, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, Siemens AG and Siemens Energy, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, Walmart, Workday, Worldpay and many others.
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Sources and further reading
- Volocopter volocopter.com
- according to a press release press.volocopter.com
- Product volocopter.com
- reserved through this website eventbrite.de
Source: first published by the 311 Institute on 23 September 2020. Cite as: Griffin, M. (2020). Flying-taxi company Volocopter now selling tickets for first time riders. 311 Institute. https://www.311institute.com/flying-taxi-company-volocopter-now-selling-tickets-for-first-time-riders/
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