Japanese airline Ana, which has teamed up with an American startup, said on Thursday hoping for electric “air taxis” in Japan in 2027 on Thursday.
Ana and Joby Aviation, based in California, announced their intention to create a joint venture in order to deploy more than 100 five -seater devices.
An Ana spokesperson explained to AFP that the devices, designed to transport a pilot and up to four passengers at speeds up to 320 km/h, could enter service from 2027.
These flying taxis will “revolutionize our air mobility,” said Ana Koji Shibata CEO on Tuesday in a statement.
The project mainly considers journeys between Tokyo and international airports Narita and Haneda, which serve the Japanese capital.
Currently, a car or train journey between the center of Tokyo and Narita takes more than an hour but the vehicle five places of Joby can reduce this time to about 15 minutes, said Ana.
Ana and Joby will make a public demonstration of these flying vehicles during the Osaka Universal Exhibition in October.
“Where ancient wisdom, legendary crafts and transcendent ambition meet – it’s Japan,” said Joeben Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby Aviation. “And this makes it an extraordinary launch platform to redefine the future of air mobility.”
Joby’s devices take off vertically, like a helicopter, then go ahead like an airplane “with a minimum acoustic impact and zero operational emission”, depending on the company.
In December, the Volocopter flying taxi startup announced that it was for bankruptcy, a few days after another German company in this area, Lilium, had been saved from bankruptcy.
Volocopter was aimed at entering the market in 2025 with its two -seater “Volocity” electric air taxi model.
She notably underwent a symbolic setback in the summer of 2024, with the cancellation at the last minute of test flights initially planned in Paris during the Olympic Games, the certification of her plane engine not being arrived in time.
