Test flight of air taxi held in Rome airport on Thursday.
Rome's Fiumicino airport unveiled plans to make flying taxis a reality in 2024 with the city's first test flight of the rotor-bladed Volocity aircraft on Thursday morning.
The battery-powered two-seater air taxi was presented at a media event titled 'Flying into the Future - Vertiport Experience in Rome!', less than a year after the aircraft first went on display in the Italian capital.
The futuristic venture is part of a collaboration between Aeroporti di Roma (AdR) and Atlantia, the Italy-based global company which manages motorways and airports, with German urban air mobility company Volocopter.
The electric flying taxi will be able to take passengers into the centre of Rome in 20 minutes and will connect Fiumicino to the city via a series of "vertiports".
The project is set to become operational in time for the Vatican's Jubilee Year in 2025, an event that is expected to attract millions of pilgrims to Rome, and comes as the Italian capital bids to host Expo 2030.
"We have invested in this futuristic project that will make Rome one of the first cities for air mobility", AdR chairman Claudio De Vincenti told reporters on Thursday.
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