Ireland is positioning itself at the forefront of urban air mobility, with plans to introduce the country’s first air taxi service by 2027. Engineers and scientists at the Future Mobility Campus Ireland (FMCI) in Shannon are collaborating with national and international partners to explore the use of drones for transporting people over urban areas. The Department of Transport has expressed its support for this innovative venture, highlighting a significant step towards enhancing Ireland’s Innovative Air Mobility (IAM) industry.
Innovative Air Mobility on the Horizon
The concept of urban air taxis revolves around electric passenger drones that take off and land vertically from ‘vertiports’. These would be strategically located much like taxi ranks, providing specific flight corridors between key locations. This initiative is part of a broader movement towards urban air mobility (UAM), which the EU’s aviation agency, EASA, has been planning for years, proposing the world’s first set of rules for drone passenger services in 2022. With international cities like Paris potentially debuting air taxi services as soon as this summer for the Olympics, Ireland’s ambitions align with a global trend towards innovative transportation solutions…
