In England, the first flying taxi hub for electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft is taking shape. Coventry, an English city, has experienced better times. The 400,000-person community in the English Midlands, formerly renowned as the motor metropolis of the UK, is currently battling to find its identity after decades of declining auto production that followed extensive destruction from World War II bombing.
Coventry, however, is once again at the forefront of cutting-edge innovation in personal mobility this spring as it plays host to what is billed as the first-ever fully operational hub for flying taxis, the electric-powered vertical takeoff and landing craft that proponents are touting as the biggest new thing in aviation.
With the exception of the actual air taxi uk, the website is fully operational. During three weeks of demonstration flights in Coventry, unmanned drones are replacing the typically five-person craft because the scores of proposed eVTOL variants have not yet received regulatory approval.
However, everything else is exactly how it will be when the first flying taxis are commercially available in a few years, according to Urban-Air Port, the hub’s developer and a startup based in London that is spearheading the effort to create so-called vertiports to compete with UK rival Skyports.
In an interview, Ricky Sandhu, the creator and executive chairman of Urban-Air Port, said, “We are here to show everyone what the future is going to look like.
If people do not trust new technology, it serves no use.The hub, located on a parking lot at a busy intersection across from Coventry’s main train station, is emblematic of Britain’s former industrial centres, which are trying to reinvent themselves but are increasingly constrained by inadequate or congested transportation options.
