Flying taxis to carry passengers from London to Brighton in 30 minutes ‘in three years’

A transport tech start-up has said that commuters will be travelling between London and Brighton by air taxi as soon as 2024.

Bristol-based Vertical Aerospace today said that an hour-long journey by train would only take 30 minutes with the winged taxi.

Chief executive Michael Cervenka told Bloomberg that “we know ground-based congestion is already a problem and infrastructure can’t keep up”.

The five-seater prototype will be completed by September 2021, and Cervenka believes that “while none of us would say an aircraft carrying four or five people is the silver bullet to solve all of that, it clearly has a role to play”.

His comments come at an intriguing juncture for London’s commuters, with bosses assessing how much remote working to allow and Britain emerges from lockdown.

Before coming to Vertical Aerospace, Cervenka worked at Rolls-Royce on a separate flying car concept. He believes that it is now possible to make a flying taxi model and that soon they will be sold commercially.

Vertical Aerospace wants to have a zero-carbon flight alongside the non-existent ground-congestion. This will be achieved through lithium-ion batteries rather than emission-high fossil fuels. The weight of the batteries is a problem, but plans are being put in action to remedy this.

Vertical Aerospace has been funded by founder Stephen Fitzpatrick who also founded the energy firm Ovo with plans to bring up-front customer deposits. Ovo last week said it had to pay out £1.2 million after its recently-acquired home energy supply business failed to install enough smart meters last year.

Covid-19 has slowed down fundraising for the project, but they are now revitalising it with a short term goal of £30 million. Ultimately, the company is trying to raise £150 million to make a viable prototype and commercialise the business.

The company will use flight decks provided by Honeywell International. The air taxi will get their certification through the European Aviation Safety Agency by 2024, Cervenka said with high hopes.