Volocopter, the pioneer of urban air mobility (UAM), has joined the Osaka Roundtable, an institution eager to bring UAM to one of the busiest cities in Asia. As part of the engagement, the German eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) developer also committed to fly during the Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai.
Together with long-term partner and investor Japan Airlines (JAL), who recently reserved Volocopter aircraft, Volocopter accelerates its commitment in Japan and plans to conduct public test flights as early as 2023.
Volocopter Joins Osaka Roundtable to Bring UAM to Japan
On 1 October 2021, Volocopter partook in the Osaka Roundtable. With nine million residents, Osaka Prefecture has one of the largest industrial bay areas in Asia, including several international seaports and airports within its vicinity, which makes it an ideal location to test over land, water, and city conditions. As host of the Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai, Osaka has strong ambitions to kickstart UAM businesses from this event onward, as a leader in an already advanced nation.
Since 2018, Japan has been proactively shaping its future of air mobility and set an ambitious target to achieve full commercialization of eVTOL air taxi and heavy lift cargo drone business by 2030. Japan is one of few countries in the world that boasts a comprehensive roadmap for UAM businesses to achieve these goals on a national level.
Furthermore, Volocopter is strategically joining forces with local partners and regulators early in the commercialization process to strengthen its position within the market. Recently, JAL reserved 100 Volocopter aircraft (VoloDrone and VoloCity) units for its future use. Additionally, Volocopter has started direct communications with local government offices to discuss how Volocopter products can support the local ecosystem in disaster relief or to aid regeneration of industrial and suburban locations through air bridges.
Florian Reuter – CEO, Volocopter: “We are honored to be seated at the Osaka Roundtable and take flight at an important milestone of the Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai. Japan’s and Osaka’s commitment to UAM commercialization and its open approach allows us to be involved in pioneering them into the future of mobility. As the world’s first and only eVTOL developer with successful public flights in several continents and a family of multi-functional aircraft, we are confident that we will become an integral part of Japan’s future UAM ecosystem. Together with our partners, we aim to improve lives in densely populated areas with our sustainable UAM services.”
Besides Japan, Volocopter has committed to air taxi services in Singapore within the next three years and announced the delivery of 150 of Volocopter products to China’s Geely within the next five years.
Volocopter is the first and only eVTOL developer to hold Design Organisation Approval (DOA) and Production Organisation Approval (POA), two strategic certification approvals from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to design and produce aircraft in-house. Once certified for commercial launch in Europe, Volocopter is positioned for concurrent type certification approvals in the U.S. from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the civil aviation authority in Singapore (CAAS).
