Move over, I-4 Ultimate— the skies over Orlando may very well look like "The Jetsons" in a few years.
A new partnership between Tavistock Development Company, the city of Orlando and Lillium Aviation, Inc. is moving forward with a plan to bring a "high-speed, electric air mobility network" to Orlando by 2025.
Lilium, a German aviation company, got a big ol' green light to construct a 56,000-square-foot air taxi facility ("vertiport") in Orlando, with the Orlando City Council approving over $800,000 in tax breaks to the Munich-based Lilum on Monday, as reported by the Orlando Business Journal.
This vertiport, collaboratively designed by Tavistock and Lilium, will serve Orlando, Tampa and nearby areas. The Verge says a trip from Orlando to Tampa would only take 30 minutes.
Lilium has designed an all-electric, five-seat vertical takeoff aircraft that it plans to have in the skies by 2025. The aircraft will be able to fly up to 186 miles within one hour of charging up.
The planned vertiport—named for the vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) jet aircraft—will be built in the Lake Nona area, the first of its kind in the United States.
And Lilium isn't stopping there. The aviation company plans to make this Lake Nona vertiport a hub for a futuristic transportation network all around the country in the years to come.
“Lilium’s establishment of its first U.S. air service in Lake Nona is a groundbreaking addition to the travel options for our residents and visitors,” said Tim Giuliani, president and CEO of the Orlando Economic Partnership, in a press statement. “The company’s revolutionary air transportation technology positions Orlando to lead the nation in regional air mobility.”
This post originally appeared in our sibling publication Orlando Weekly.
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This article appears in Nov 5-11, 2020.