Paris aims to beat Olympic traffic with flying taxis

Paris aims to give visitors to the 2024 Paris Olympics a flying start by offering airborne taxis to tournament sites straight from the airport.

Arrivals in the City of Light currently face an hour-long haul by train or bus into town from Charles de Gaulle airport to the north of Paris.

But if Aeroports de Paris (ADP), Airbus and the RATP regional transport have their way passengers, right after their jets have taxied to a halt on the runway, will be able to take to the air once again with a self-flying urban taxi of the future.

The firms used this past week's Paris Air Show to say the Olympics afforded the perfect opportunity to bring into service futuristic Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) machines, and that they would launch a feasibility study.

"In 2010, for the first time, more than half of humanity was living in urban zones and we think we shall surpass 60 percent by 2030," said Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury. The time had now come to vault up to "the third dimension" of local commutes -- air, he said.

"If we have the conviction that in the next five, 10, 15, 20 or 30 years low altitude is a space to be conquered we have to put in place the conditions today," said ADP Group's executive director general Edward Arkwright.

VTOL converts are already sprouting in number as the world looks to move beyond -- or rather, above -- today's saturated motorways and growing environmental concerns.

Back on the ground, the view has been muddied by a delay beyond the Games, to 2025, of the express fast train designed to cut congestion and travel time between Charles de Gaulle airport and the city centre.

For aircraft manufacturer Airbus, airport manager ADP and RATP, which manages Parisian public transport services, the Games are a chance to showcase French savoir-faire in urban mobility.

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"It is large scale rollout which is going to be complicated," Rassineux told AFP. Along with required progress on battery power and anti-collision detection he said there were "constraints regarding compatibility and traffic regulation."