According to the CEO of the ADP group, Augustin de Romanet, the amount of the ticket to travel in a flying taxi during the Olympics will correspond to double the price of a car taxi. © Volocopter
What if you took to the air to avoid traffic jams during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games? This project, which seemed like science fiction a few years ago, should become reality on the occasion of the biggest sporting event in the world, but not at any price.
Indeed, getting around the capital during the Olympic Games in flying taxis will cost the modest sum of €110, according to the words of the CEO of the ADP group, Augustin de Romanet. “We will sell a few thousand tickets at very reasonable prices”said the leader at the microphone of France Info.
Flying over traffic jams
The boss of the group, which operates the Paris airports of Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle, Orly and Le Bourget, estimates that the amount, which corresponds to twice the price of a car taxi, will allow “everyone”and not only to the richest, to test this new mode of transport on board machines halfway between drones and helicopters. “When you want to go from one end of a large metropolis to the other in the world, you sometimes have 2h30 of transport by car”indicates Augustin de Romanet about the restrictive situations that the flying taxis will make it possible to avoid during the Olympic Games.
During the Olympic fortnight, several experimental lines will be set up to provide journeys between Issy-les-Moulineaux and Saint-Cyr L’École, between Roissy and Le Bourget, and between Le Bourget and a barge moored at the Quai d’Austerlitz. Beyond the practical aspect of the flying taxis, designated by the acronym VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) for Olympic spectators, the CEO of the ADP group believes that these devices can also be very useful in facilitating medical evacuations, often carried out “in ambulances that are victims of traffic jams”. Despite their usefulness for emergency situations, it is not certain that these flying taxis arouse great enthusiasm among the general public, while the very salty price of tickets to attend the Olympic Games has already greatly annoyed many French people.