Despite its confidence at launching an autonomous air taxi service before the Paris Olympics, German firm Volocopter was not able to fly its electric aircraft because of certification delays.

It was more than 10 years ago that Volocopter performed the maiden flight and first test flights of its two-person electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft prototype.

Having secured enough funding to proceed from prototype to production, in June 2021 the firm performed a test flight at the Paris Air Forum, marking the first public demonstration of an electrically powered air taxi in France. The Volocopter VoloCity flew a 500-metre route at speeds up to 30km/h and 30 metres high.

At this demonstration the firm announced its ambition to introduce an autonomous air taxi service to the city by the time it hosted the Summer Olympics.

Volocopter would partner with the Paris regional government, the French capital's transport operator RATP and airport operator Group ADP to advance multiple...