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Are air taxis safe?

It’s too early to know from experience. None of the companies in our directory has started paid air taxi service in the U.S. or Europe, so there’s no safety record to read yet. What you can check today are the rules regulators set and the safety features companies say they build in. We checked every source on October 17, 2026.

How safe do regulators require them to be?

In Europe, EASA says an air taxi that carries passengers or flies over cities must keep flying and land safely after a failure. No single failure may cause a crash. For the aircraft’s systems, the chance of a catastrophic failure must be one in a billion flight hours or less.

Source: EASA Special Condition SC-VTOL, Issue 1

In the U.S., the FAA certifies these aircraft as powered-lift, the first new category of civil aircraft since helicopters. On October 22, 2024, it issued the rule for how their pilots are trained and how they fly, including minimum safe altitudes and visibility. How the FAA certifies powered-lift air taxis explains each step.

Source: FAA, October 22, 2024

What safety features do companies describe?

Most designs spread the work across many motors and batteries, so one failure doesn’t bring the aircraft down. These are each company’s own descriptions:

Has any air taxi been certified?

Yes, in China. On October 13, 2023, China’s aviation regulator issued a type certificate for EHang’s pilotless EH216-S. None of the companies in our directory has announced an FAA or EASA type certificate for a passenger air taxi. EHang EH216-S guide covers its certificates in order.

Source: EHang, October 13, 2023

What should you look for before you fly?

Look for two things: a type certificate for the aircraft from the regulator where you fly, and an operator approved to carry paying passengers. A test flight or a demonstration isn’t either one. When will air taxis launch? tracks who is closest.

Certification stage labels · Manned or autonomous? · All guides