Lilium VTOL Jet
The fixed-wing Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) aircraft is now predicted to be the future of travel within cities according to a recent report by Robb Report.
Recently, there have been concepts and prototypes from an airliner manufacturer, Airbus, a ride-sharing company, Uber, and even the luxury-car marque, Aston Martin on traveling within cities with VTOL.
The U.S. military was the first to identify the benefits of planes that don’t need runways: more fighter jets on aircraft carriers, and less real estate for air bases. More recently, the fixed-wing VTOL design has been embraced for civil applications, specifically as a means of transporting people into, around and out of cities crowded with automobile traffic.
A recent study projects that the worldwide demand, by the public as well as the military and law enforcement agencies, for the convenience and efficiency of VTOLs will continue to rise, and so will the supply of actual aircraft, not just the ideas. It predicts that in the next 10 years the fixed-wing VTOL market will grow from $2 billion to $13.6 billion.
Here is a look at some of the aircraft that someday could carry you around town and over traffic or a few feet over water.
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