Embraer reignites Melbourne’s flying taxi plan

Melbourne’s aerial taxi dream is not lost with a new deal aiming to bring ‘urban air mobility’ to the city by 2026.

Embraer has Melbourne in its sights for an aerial taxi service in partnership with Ascent Flights from 2026.

Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer has jumped into the void left by Uber Elevate, with a plan to bring aerial taxis to Melbourne by 2026.

Under the plan, Embraer’s Eve Urban Air Mobility company will supply aviation booking platform Ascent Flights Global with 100 electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

These will be used to provide aerial taxi services in key cities within the Asia Pacific including Melbourne, Tokyo, Singapore, Manila and Bangkok.

The move follows the sale of Uber Elevate, which had named Melbourne as one of its launch cities for flying taxis from 2023.

New owners Joby Aviation remain committed to “aerial ride-sharing”, but are expected to focus on the US market initially.

Eve president and CEO Andre Stein said there was massive demand within the Asia Pacific for transportation disruption, that could be filled with their low-emission aircraft.

“This is the right recipe for sustainable growth,” said Mr Stein.

Producing zero carbon emissions and little noise, Eve’s electrical vertical aircraft would operate within a strict urban air mobility (UAM) system in Melbourne, devised in partnership with Airservices Australia.

Airservices chief customer experience and strategy officer Peter Curran said the UAM would allow a broad spectrum of aircraft to safely share the airspace including conventional helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and eVTOL aircraft.

“We have the responsibility of keeping our skies safe, and we are excited to leverage our significant expertise and operational capabilities in airspace management to develop innovative solutions that ensure safe and equitable access to the urban airspace,” he said.

Victoria’s government also expressed excitement about Embraer’s announcement, and what it would mean for Melbourne.

Minister for economic development Tim Pallas said the initiative was transformational.

“Advanced air mobility has the potential to revolutionise urban and regional transport, changing the way Victorians travel for work and leisure through the use of electrical vertical takeoff and landing aircraft,” Mr Pallas said.

For Clem Newton-Brown, the announcement justified years of work developing eVTOL landing pads throughout Melbourne.

Known as “Skyportz” Mr Newton-Brown said he had sites ready to go, and he looked forward to working with Embraer on suitable routes and destinations. “There is still a lot of work to do around regulations and standards and a lot of work to do in getting the community support for this new form of clean, green and quiet transport,” he said.

The development came as drone delivery service Wing declared the city of Logan, south of Brisbane, to be its fastest growing market worldwide after making 50,000 drops in eight months.

They included 10,000 cups of coffee, 2700 sushi rolls and 1000 loaves of bread from 11 participating businesses.

Wing spokeswoman Jess Suskin said their biggest week was during the city’s recent lockdown when 4500 drone deliveries were made, including some in under 3-minutes.

Canberra is currently the only other city in which Wing is operating, but more Australian launch sites will be announced in coming months.