Dubai company to launch flying cars in Mena

PAL-V

Aviation company Aviterra has signed a deal with Dutch company PAL-V to launch flying cars across the Middle East and Africa.

Based in Dubai, Aviterra will buy 100 Liberty flying cars from PAL-V and invest in the flying car maker with the intention of making door-to-door mobility a reality in the region.

“The PAL-V Liberty is the perfect tool for our customers’ regional travel requirements, offering a combination of flying and driving,” Mouhanad Wadaa, managing director of Aviterra, said in a press statement.

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The PAL-V Liberty, known as the world’s first real flying car due to the combination of a gyroplane and a car, has a flight range of 500 km and a maximum airspeed of 180 km per hour.

Loggia Investment, the investment arm of Aviterra, has made a strategic investment in PAL-V. The investment value was not given.

PAL-V is setting up regional offices worldwide to expand its flying car business, said CEO and founder Robert Dingemanse. 

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“These regional offices will be hubs for PAL-V’s sales, maintenance, flight training, and assembly locations,” he said.

The news is the latest in a series of announcements related to flying cars in the region.

This month, Archer Aviation of the US and the UAE’s Falcon Aviation signed an agreement to develop air taxi vertiports at the Falcon heliport at Atlantis the Palm in Dubai and the Marina Mall heliport on the Corniche in Abu Dhabi, cutting the commute time between the emirates to 30 minutes by next year.

Last month, New York Stock Exchange-listed Joby Aviation announced plans to soft launch air taxi services in Dubai by early 2025.

The vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft maker signed an agreement with Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority (RTA), which gives it the exclusive right to operate air taxis in the emirate for six years