“There is nothing wrong with this project (…), a totally useless and hyper-polluting gadget for a few ultra-privileged people in a hurry.” These words from Dan Lert, deputy for ecological transition at Paris City Hall, summarize the general feeling of Parisian elected officials about the project to experiment with flying taxis on the Seine, supported by the Aéroport de Paris (ADP) group for 2024 Olympic Games. Elected officials voted against, with elected officials from all sides indicating their opposition.
Councilor Florian Sitbon (PS) castigated an “absurd” project endorsed by the State and the Ile-de-France Region. “To save a few minutes for a few wealthy people in a hurry, ignorant and contemptuous of the climate emergency, we would pollute the atmosphere, we would destroy the sound environment,” he denounced.
Consumption “two to three times higher than a car”
The LR mayor of the 15th Philippe Goujon recalled his ambition to permanently close the Issy-les-Moulineaux heliport. “The consumption of these flying machines, almost 190 kWh per 100 km, is two to three times higher than a car with a thermal engine to transport a single passenger,” added Claire de Clermont-Tonnerre (Changer Paris).
“It’s a new use that we absolutely didn’t need (…) like what we experienced with self-service scooters,” quipped communist advisor Jean-Noël Aqua, denouncing a “ ecological aberration” coupled with “social separatism”, recalling that it will be necessary to pay “the modest sum of 140 euros for 35 km”.
Environmental Authority calls for accountability
ADP, with its partners the German manufacturer Volocopter and the Ile-de-France region, wants to take advantage of the Olympic showcase to experimentally operate electric flying taxis on three airlines, including one linking the Issy-Issy heliport. les-Moulineaux to a barge on the Seine located near the Austerlitz station. The objective is officially “to experiment with a new mobility offer in very dense urban areas”.
At the beginning of September, the French Environmental Authority (AE) however judged the impact study of the future experimental base of flying taxis planned on the Seine, known as the “vertiport”, to be “incomplete”, calling into question noise and visual pollution, energy consumption and the risk to the safety of passengers and Parisians.
It is within the framework of this environmental assessment that Parisian elected officials gave a negative opinion to the Paris Council on the creation of this take-off and landing platform which would be fixed to the quay of the port of Austerlitz.
Overflown municipalities not included in the public inquiry
“The priority must be the improvement of everyday transport and not expensive gadgets reserved for a few” also denounced in a joint press release the mayors of Ivry-sur-Seine, Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, Gentilly and Malakoff the group Left Communist Ecologist and Citizen at the Ile-de-France Regional Council.
“The flying taxis will fly over the territories that we represent and their inhabitants at a height of 150 meters above the obstacles on the ground” write the elected officials, however “none of the suburban communities crossed have been informed in advance of this project and all are excluded from the geographical scope of this public inquiry. This is unacceptable ! »