Singapore is poised to become one of the first nations to offer an air taxi service as Volocopter reveals plans to launch flights above the city in 2024. 

According to the company’s press release, the first taxis will operate tourist flights, while the expansion of the network should later connect Singapore with Malaysia and Indonesia. 

“We are excited to have progressed to the next step of our UAM journey in Singapore today, by presenting a roadmap that sets out further details on the business and operation plans leading up to our commercial launch in the next two years,” Christian Bauer, CCO of Volocopter, said in the press release. 

The company already performed a flight of its prototype vehicle above Singapore in 2019 and expects to operate six bases, known as VoloPorts, by 2030.  

The plan comes in line with Volocopter’s promise to launch air taxi services in France by 2024, which begs the question, which country will be the first to operate air taxis? 

German-based Volocopter is one of many companies promising to turn electric flying taxis into a viable form of mass transportation. 

The first prototype flew in 2011, and by 2018 the Volocopter 2X entered limited serial production, as well as conducting a series of publicity flights in various locations around the world.