As of: 01/24/2022 4:18 p.m
The aerospace company Boeing apparently wants to build another mainstay. The US group is investing 450 million dollars in a young air taxi company.
The aerospace group Boeing is investing 450 million dollars in the developer company Wisk Aero. The money is to be invested, among other things, in the preparation of production, as the companies announced. The company’s most important product is the Wisk Cora air taxi model. The aircraft should initially be able to transport two people up to 40 kilometers, with a flight speed of up to 160 kilometers per hour.
The aircraft with its twelve electric motors and a so-called pusher propeller no longer has any pilots on board, so it flies autonomously. For safety, the machines should also be able to be remotely controlled from the ground and have a so-called total rescue system with a landing parachute. Take-off and landing are vertical.
Lots of security and lots of competition
Wisk is a 2019 joint venture between Boeing and aircraft developer Kitty Hawk, funded by Google co-founder Larry Page. Over the past few years, Page has built up several companies that develop small aircraft.
Larry Page indirectly funded Wisk.
Image: picture alliance / dpa
Air taxis are developed by several companies, including Volocopter and Lilium from Germany. Boeing’s big rival Airbus is also working on a model. It is still unclear how quickly air taxis will be approved by the authorities and how viable the business model for operating them will be.