Officially Certified Air Taxi Takes Test Flight with Passengers

­The flying taxi industry took a major step forward with a passenger-laden test flight in Thailand.

EHang, a Guangzhou, China-based developer of autonomous aerial vehicles (AAVs) and passenger AAVs, conducted a series of test flights with their EH216-S aircraft at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center in Bangkok, Thailand.

This is huge news for the company and, in particular, for the EH216-S, which is the world’s only electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle with airworthiness certificates.

Indeed, there’s been significant progress on air taxis in this country, with federal regulators releasing final guidance last month on how these vehicles will be operated and prospective pilots’ training.

But they haven’t reached the level of the EH216-S yet, and in Europe, it’s even worse, with Germany’s Lilium recently conducting insolvency hearings and looking for buyers or investors.

In Thailand, though, things have never looked better.

Mr. Suttipong Kongpool, Director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT), stated: "This demo flights marks significant progress in integrating UAM solutions into Thailand's aviation industry. EHang’s EH216-S is currently the world’s only eVTOL with airworthiness certificates, and we look forward to its commercial flight operations in certain areas of Thailand next year, which will serve as significant contribution to Thailand's UAM roadmap development plan."

Mr. Conor Yang, CFO of EHang,added that, "In the future, with the strong support of the CAAT, we will cooperate with our local partners to formulate a model for regular UAM operations in Thailand, contributing to the development of the urban air mobility market in Southeast Asia and worldwide."