Airbus bets on Latin America
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Air taxis are already a reality in Sao Paulo and Mexico City
Airbus is a French company dedicated to the construction of civil aircraft that has been operating in Latin America for four decades not only through partnerships with local commercial airlines, but also providing helicopters used in the defense areas of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile , Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Dominican Republic, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela. However, recently the company has ventured into the new service of air taxis in the region, which, for now, are already in operation in Sao Paulo and Mexico City.
Leer en español: Airbus le apuesta a Latinoamérica
According to Darcy Olmos, the director for Latin America of Airbus's Urban Air Mobility, 15,000 flights have already been made with this service between the two cities. Similarly, says Olmos, although for now the service is being provided only with helicopters, the company is already performing the necessary tests to incorporate the electric CityAirbus and the Vahana of a post, as well as the UTR autonomous vehicle.
For the moment, a trip in an air taxi like the available helicopters can have a cost that goes from the 2,500 Mexican pesos, that is to say approximately 130 USD.
Additionally, at the end of May of this year, Airbus announced the opening of its new offices in Argentina where they already represent a third of the country's fleet, serving the Armed Forces and other public institutions such as the police, the gendarmerie and the prefecture. naval. As of today, the company has around 1,200 employees in Latin America, which are spread across 18 operations centers.
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According to Olmos, the benefits of this new modality of air taxis are multiple. In the first place, the entrepreneur considers that the service will bring environmental benefits once the CityAirbus can be implemented. Additionally, the service aims to improve connectivity, contribute to the development of cities, and decrease time in traffic, since, as the businessman said for Portfolio, "in Sao Paulo a journey that takes about 2 hours, thanks to this technology we can do it in 12 minutes and that is an improvement in the quality of life of citizens".
Why Latin America?
The businessman also said for the same means that the decision to bet on the region is because "Latin America accounts for 8% of the global population with 600 million inhabitants, and in fact, more than 80% of people already live in areas urban "which means that in the future they can generate difficulties in the mobility of these cities if they do not start thinking about new alternatives.
In addition, according to the official Airbus website, "economic indicators are still strong in Latin America and the Caribbean. With well-established democracies in place, increased urbanization and rapid infrastructure improvement, the region's economy is expected to grow above the world average in the coming decades. "
In this sense, the company estimates that in the next 20 years, the fleet of commercial aircraft in service will double in the region, creating the need for 50,000 new pilots and 53,000 engineers. The company also estimates that by 2036 Bogota, Buenos Aires, Lima, Mexico City, Santiago, and Sao Paulo, Cancun, Panama City, and Rio de Janeiro will together represent approximately 150,000 long-distance passengers per day.
LatinAmerican Post | Sofía Carreño
Translated from "Airbus le apuesta a Latinoamérica"
