- General
- November 11, 2020
- 5 minutes read
Lilium Plans Florida Hub
Photo credit: Lilium Lilium, a startup that’s looking to launch a network of flying taxis, has announced plans to…
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| Photo credit: Lilium |
Lilium, a startup that’s looking to launch a network of flying taxis, has announced plans to set up a flying taxi hub in the US state of Florida by 2025. The planned hub is particularly situated at Lake Nona in the city of Orlando, whereas Lilium has partnered with real estate firm Tavistock and the City of Orlando to see its plan come to fruition. Tavistock will provide design, planning, and construction expertise to support Lilium’s planned flying taxi hub.
Lilium’s proposed Florida hub falls under its vision to set up air mobility locations across the globe where passengers will be able to board electric, vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to ferry them between nearby regions. Lilium, a German firm, is one of several startups that have emerged with the vision of launching air taxi networks. It’s backed by nearly $400 million in outside funding from investors such as Tencent, Baillie Gifford, Atomico, and LGT Capital Partners.
Lilium has particularly chosen to launch its hub in Lake Nona, a 17-square-mile mixed-use community that’s noted as one the most desirable locations in Florida. Lake Nona is close to the Orlando International Airport, a major airport that facilitates millions of yearly visits to Florida. The community is also home to major aviation training companies, being overall a noted aviation hub.
Together with Tavistock, Lilium has come up with a plan named “vertiport” that’s pictured below. It’s akin to an airport, but of a smaller scale and a much lesser land area than required for airports. Lilium plans to run vertical take-off and landing aircraft at the facility so there’s no need for long runways as it required for normal aircraft.
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| Photo credit: Lilium |
The “vertiport” is designed in a way that’ll fit into existing transport structures in both urban and suburban developments in a bid to reduce construction costs and accelerate the pace of development. It’s part of Lilium’s vision as the German company aims to launch an operational air taxi service across several global regions by the year 2025.
