The air taxi, much like self-driving cars and delivery drones, is one of those futuristic dreams that seem forever three years away. But recent progress made by leading industry players suggests the concept is finally, slowly, maturing to commercialization. The idea of an urban air taxi is pioneered by Silicon Valley startups that make eVTOLs--electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing vehicles. But compared to electric cars, battery-powered aircraft face bigger challenges on both technical and regulatory fronts, let alone the public's acceptance. On June 21, Archer Aviation, a California-based eVTOL startup traded on the New York Stock Exchange, said it had recently begun testing a prototype called Maker with a new configuration that supports "transition flight"--the transition between an aircraft being lifted by vertical propellers and being carried by the wings for horizontal movement.

We already have drones and increasingly autonomous cars, so it's perhaps no surprise that several companies are already working on flying taxis – also known as passenger drones and electrical vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. The first piloted eVTOL services are expected as early as this year, but we could see pilot-less autonomous eVTOLs soon after that. That's right; autonomous flying taxis could be a reality in your lifetime. The number of hours we used to spend sitting in traffic before the coronavirus hit is almost too depressing to think about, particularly if you live in a densely populated, congested city like Los Angeles, New York or London. Some are suggesting eVTOL services could be the answer to our traffic prayers – transporting passengers on congested city routes through the air. Meanwhile, other companies are developing eVTOLs aimed at popular intercity journeys, such as traveling from my home town of Milton Keynes to London.

The effects of traffic congestion are adverse, primarily including air pollution, commuter stress, and an increase in vehicle operating costs and accidents on the road. In efforts to alleviate these problems in metropolitan cities, logistics companies plan to introduce a new method of everyday commute called air taxis, an Urban Air Mobility (UAM) service. These are electric-powered vehicles that are expected to operate in the forthcoming years by international transportation companies like Airbus, Uber, and Kitty Hawk. Since these flying taxis are emerging mode of transportation, it is necessary to provide recommendations for the initial design, implementation, and operation. This study proposes managerial insights for these upcoming services by analyzing online customer reviews and conducting an internal assessment of helicopter operations. Helicopters are similar to air taxis in regards to their operations, and therefore, customer reviews pertaining to the former can enable us to obtain insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the short-distance aviation service, in general. A four-stage sequential approach is used in this research, wherein the online reviews are mined in Stage 1, analyzed using the bigram and trigram models in Stage 2, 7S internal assessment is conducted for helicopter services in Stage 3, and managerial recommendations for air taxis are proposed in Stage 4. The insights obtained in this paper could assist any air taxi companies in providing better customer service when they venture into the market. Keywords: Air taxi; Emerging technology; Urban Air Mobility (UAM); Helicopter services; Online customer reviews; Text analytics;

Volocopter has presented an air taxi infrastructure idea which integrates air taxis into existing transportation systems. The concept would provide additional mobility for up to 10,000 passengers per day with a single point to point connection. Alex Zosel, Volocopter co-Founder, expects the first full Volocopter air taxi system, with dozens of Volo-Hubs and Volo-Ports, to be in place within the next 10 years, capable of flying 100,000 passengers an hour. Volocopters are emission-free and electrically powered aircrafts which take off and land vertically; offering a high degree of safety. Based on drone technology, they have been scaled to carry two people, initially for distances of 27km.