Paris flying taxis scheme misses Olympic debut [Video]

Flying taxis could whisk passengers across Paris or help with emergency medical care from December, operators said on Thursday, while acknowledging that the dream of showing off the scheme during the Paris Olympics was impossible.

The joint venture between Paris airport operator ADP and German start-up Volocopter is aiming for a passenger flight “by the end of the year” from a platform floating on the river Seine, they said.

Initially, ADP and Volocopter wanted to trial passenger flights from the river over the summer, taking advantage of the global attention paid to the Olympic Games.

But there has been a “delay of a few weeks” in official certification for their Volocity flying machine from the European Aviation Safety Agency, ADP executive director Edward Arkwright said.

This was because of “small vibrations” affecting the craft’s engine, which is manufactured by a US supplier, ADP chief executive Augustin de Romanet told Franceinfo …