Russia intends to launch an air taxi service as early as this decade. At least three companies have such plans: Hover, Yandex and EFKO. Why air taxis may not enter the route and what does the FSB and the order of the Ministry of Transport have to do with it - in the material.

Between regions by air

In Russia (and its capital), air taxis will become an affordable means of transportation on a par with ordinary taxis by 2027, Alexander Atamanov, founder of Hover, said.

“Experts expect the creation of an air taxi service in 2025. The mass emergence of air transport within the city is possible in about two years after that,” he said.

Atamanov explained that as early as 2025, Russians will be able to travel by air taxi, but there will be certain restrictions, including a high price. “To make them at prices approximately comparable to ordinary land-based taxis is a later date, at least two years. Initially, these will still be limited and rather small routes, ”added the developer.

According to him, the cost of one trip will be set at the rate of 200 rubles. for one kilometer.

A year ago, in January 2021, Hover unveiled a flying taxi prototype. The tests took place at the Small Sports Arena of the Luzhniki Olympic Complex. As RBC reported, then Atamanov claimed that the cost of the flight would be approximately $0.3 per kilometer (23 rubles at the current exchange rate).

In a comment, the founder of Hover said that an important task is to prepare the city's infrastructure for a new mode of transport. “It will take time for Moscow to transition. According to current plans, we are considering the use of existing helipads: these are Moscow City, the Kremlin, the White House, ”Atamanov explained.

The head of Hover said that in the future there will be more areas for takeoff and landing of air taxis. “They will be on the roofs of shopping centers, on the roofs of residential buildings,” he is sure.

Testing is already underway

According to the head of the company, Hover has already conducted test flights with people on board. “There is a lot of work to be done in terms of certification and implementation of a safety program for aircraft. And we are already working on all this, ”he said.

According to Atamanov, certification of the device will take two years. But the main difficulty for the mass character of such flights and cost reduction is the removal of legislative prohibitions.

“So far, obtaining permits, that is, the approval of legislative opportunities for such flights, is in progress. This process is being solved quickly, but so far no country in the world has a final answer,” he stated.

He noted that the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Federal Security Service (FSO) oppose permission to fly such devices.

In Moscow, within the boundaries of the Moscow Ring Road, flights of aircraft, including unmanned aircraft, such as copters and drones, are prohibited by order of the Russian Ministry of Transport No. 254 dated July 24, 2020. Permission to fly over this territory can only be issued in exceptional cases. Among them: the performance of operational tasks in the interests of the state, carrying out rescue work to provide assistance in emergency situations.

“Moscow Mayor's Office really wants [to allow flights]. But I can understand the fears of those who are against it. This car can move not only an ordinary person, but also a bag with explosives,” Atamanov admitted.

He noted that the company has every reason to believe that Moscow will eventually approve such measures. “We have established a good dialogue with the City Hall and the Departmentrepreneurship and Innovative Development,” said the head of the company.

I ordered it in the app and flew

The air taxi format itself will be familiar to everyone who uses the online order of ordinary cars with a driver, Atamanov assured.

“The idea is to make an application like for cars. In our air taxi you will make an order and get into it as usual. The only difference is that you won't see the driver there. These are unmanned vehicles,” added the head of Hover.

Due to the refusal of pilots, transportation costs will be reduced - accordingly, air taxis will be able to compete with ground transport, especially during rush hour, Atamanov said: “For example, a trip to Sheremetyevo from Moscow City will take not at least 40 minutes, but only 10 minutes.”

According to him, the flights of the Hover device are currently being tested with a remote operator who controls the air taxi using a remote control. “There is no pilot in the car itself. The pilot is on the ground and sets the route, and also controls that everything works correctly, ”the developer explained.

Who else is developing air taxis

In 2019, VR-Technologies, a Russian Helicopters holding company, signed an agreement with Yandex.Taxi to create an urban air taxi system. The ceremony was held at the International Aviation and Space Salon MAKS.However, the companies later announced that they were postponing the start of the project for at least three years. Initially, the air taxi was planned to be launched in 2020. Then it was claimed that the cost of the flight would be up to 3 thousand rubles.

Among the reasons for the postponement, it was indicated that the testing and certification of the VRT500 helicopters, which will carry passengers, is still far from complete. The partners also planned to evaluate the market efficiency of air transportation in Moscow.

There is currently no news about the project. Yandex.Taxi declined to comment after receiving an inquiry about whether plans to launch an air taxi project in 2022 are realistic.

“At the moment we do not have such a service,” added a representative of the service. Russian Helicopters was unable to provide an operational comment.

EFKO, one of the three largest companies in the Russian agro-industrial complex, is also developing its own air taxi. The Biryuch Innovation Center completed testing of the Hi-Fly Taxi prototype.

According to the assurances of the developers, the device can already make unmanned flights with a range of up to 15 km and carry cargo weighing up to 120 kg.

The first unmanned flight of the Hi-Fly Taxi took place in October 2021. It took less than a year to develop the current version of the air taxi, according to EFKO.

Executive director and member of the board of directors of EFKO Sergey Ivanov considers air taxi a convenient and quick way to leave the city for nature, a country house or a summer cottage.

It is noted that at the end of 2022, EFKO plans to carry out the first Hi-Fly Taxi flights on dedicated routes in the Belgorod Region for a distance of up to 50 km.

Back to news » Back to news »

Barriers in the air

Doctor of technical sciences, professor of MADI Mikhail Yakimov doubts the prospects for launching air taxis in Russian cities.

“Inside cities, you first need to allow the movement of aircraft. Now it is prohibited by law. And in cities, such flights are really very dangerous, this is a place where people live compactly.

For flying machines to appear overhead? I don’t think this will happen,” he said.

According to the professor, transporting one or two people from one point of the city to another in such a "semi-professional way" is too risky.

“We also have regular traffic jams in cities on the roads, would it be better if there were such traffic jams in the sky?” the scientist asked.

Mikhail Blinkin, director of the HSE Institute for Transport Economics and Transport Policy, said that he is against air taxis in the urban environment.

“Technically, it was possible to launch an air taxi the day before yesterday. But they do not fit into the legal framework of the rules for the use of the air layer. This is a small narrow segment, this is zero with a comma and some signs after it. To overcome for the sake of this serious changes? I wouldn't bother with it," he added.

According to Blinkin, the discussion of such projects should be stopped. “If I were a member of a government commission and considered this issue of transport policy, I would propose to remove it from discussion, because it simply does not represent any interest,” the expert explained.

He believes that industrial lobbying is actively involved in the implementation of air taxi projects. “Maybe the lobbyists will break through. In order to satisfy penny demand? Well, good luck,” stated the director of the institute.

Yakimov from MADI believes that air taxis, even in the form of public transport with a large number of passengers, will require major infrastructural changes, and they will not be used because of the high cost of the ticket.

He cited the example of how long-distance flights are carried out on small planes. According to the expert, such a flight is extremely expensive for Russians, even with subsidy programs in which the passenger himself pays only a third of the cost of the ticket. The remaining part is taken equally by the federal and regional budgets.

“Even taking into account subsidies, a flight from Perm to Izhevsk costs 5,000 rubles, I paid the same amount for an air ticket to Perm from Moscow. Of course, it would be cheaper to get to Izhevsk by bus or car,” added Professor MADI.

According to Yakimov, the lifting of bans on flights within cities will lead to increased competition, in which air taxis are unlikely to be able to break into the foreground and bypass already known vehicles.

“If now aviation flights over Moscow are suddenly allowed, then a bunch of private helicopters will fly outside the Moscow Ring Road here to the city, so they will actively develop landing sites. This, of course, would be insane. But will they mention the word air taxi? I doubt it,” he concluded.

Are there any options now?

Various private companies promise the opportunity to fly a helicopter over Moscow. However, while these flights are still subject to bans, so we are not talking about a full-fledged trip around the city.Services carry out sorties from airfields located in the Moscow region, and at a certain height they can come close to the borders of the capital, but no more. Thus, to see the main sights of Moscow from the air will be the maximum from afar. Landing inside Moscow is also impossible.

Prices for such services are also much higher than air taxi services promise. For example, a flight on a Robinson R44, a four-seater helicopter, will cost no less than 14 thousand rubles. And that's in 15 minutes.

As the flight minutes increase, so does the cost. It is also important to understand that for the flight you will need to agree on the exact date and time. That is, it is still a single service. As opposed to plans to launch a service that is available on a regular basis through the application.

bbabo.Net