Volocopter to help launch eVTOL services in Japan following new agreement with Japan Airlines (JAL)

Volo­copter has entered into a co-oper­a­tion agree­ment with Japan Air­lines (JAL) to help devel­op and launch Urban Air Mobil­i­ty ser­vices in the coun­try — which could be with­in the next three years.

As part of this agree­ment, both com­pa­nies will work togeth­er to explore busi­ness oppor­tu­ni­ties for air mobil­i­ty ser­vices, using its Volo­copter’s VoloC­i­ty eVTOL. This will include estab­lish­ing local part­ner­ships, approach­ing Japan­ese cities and pre­fec­tures and work­ing on mar­ket demand and social accep­tance.

JAL will pro­vide their in-depth knowl­edge accu­mu­lat­ed via safe air­craft oper­a­tion expe­ri­ence to a next-gen­er­a­tion air mobil­i­ty oper­a­tion plat­form ser­vice. In addi­tion, through air mobil­i­ty ser­vices, JAL aims to deliv­er med­ical care in remote areas to achieve key sus­tain­able devel­op­ment goals. 

A col­lab­o­ra­tion was also announced today (Tues­day) between JAL, Mit­sui Sum­it­o­mo Insur­ance and MS&AD Inter­Risk Research & Con­sult­ing, to help accel­er­ate Volo­copter’s entry into Japan­ese mar­ket.

Com­ment­ing on this in a press release, Volo­copter said: “The col­lab­o­ra­tion of air­line oper­a­tor, insur­ance provider, and busi­ness devel­op­ment part­ners as well as an Urban Air Mobil­i­ty pio­neer makes this approach a sus­tain­able and promis­ing one.”

The lat­est agree­ment fol­lows Volo­copter’s recent news that it is accept­ing pub­lic tick­et reser­va­tions for those want­i­ng to be the first pas­sen­gers in its VoloC­i­ty. No fur­ther details have been announced, except the 15-minute flights will take place at least 12 months after the com­mer­cial launch.

In Octo­ber 2019, Volo­copter suc­cess­ful­ly per­formed a pilot­ed flight over Singapore’s Mari­na Bay and is cur­rent­ly focused on receiv­ing com­mer­cial cer­ti­fi­ca­tion for their VoloC­i­ty air­craft by the Euro­pean Union Avi­a­tion Safe­ty Agency (EASA).

Found­ed in 1951, JAL became the first inter­na­tion­al air­line in Japan and is a mem­ber of the oneworl­dal­liance. The air­line now reach­es more than 400 air­ports in 66 coun­tries and regions togeth­er with its code­share part­ners. It was award­ed as one of the most punc­tu­al major inter­na­tion­al air­lines and is a cer­ti­fied 5‑Star Air­line by Sky­trax.