TAMPA, FL — Forget getting from here to there by road, paying outrageous prices at the pump while cars idle and waste gas in endless traffic jams.

A recently formed committee at Tampa International Airport has higher aspirations. It will investigate using air taxis to get commuters to their destinations.

According to the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority, which oversees TPA and three general aviation airports in the county, electric aircraft or eVTOLs could begin providing new transportation options for those looking to travel across Tampa Bay and the state by 2025.

To determine whether air taxis could be a solution to Tampa Bay's increasing road congestion, the aviation authority has created an Advanced Aviation Technology Committee to study this rapidly evolving technology and prepare for what's to come.

It's a space-age technology that the Hillsborough Transportation Planning Organization, formerly the Hillsborough Metropolitan Planning Organization, and the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority, which coordinates regional planning for Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco and Pinellas counties, have been exploring for the past couple of years.

In 2019, the Florida Legislature appropriated $1 million dollars to TBARTA to study and develop future transit technologies. Later that year TBARTA began a 12-month Innovative Transit Technologies Feasibility Study, which was completed in July 2020.

See related story: Aerial Gondola From Downtown Clearwater To Clearwater Beach Considered

The study examined the technical, financial and regulatory issues of three new modes of emerging transit technology: hyperloops, aerial gondolas and air taxis.

Among the study's recommendations was for TBARTA to collaborate with NASA on modeling for air taxis.

Over the last year, the TPO has beta-tested an air taxi-siting tool created by NASA to help local governments explore how best to use this emerging technology in the region.

Researchers from NASA, which began testing Small Aircraft Transportation Systems as early as 2001, were developing a geographic information systems-based Urban Air Mobility Regional Modeling and Simulation Tool to evaluate potential sites for vertiports (mini airports offering vertical take-offs and landings) which are crucial to creating an air taxi system.

Before air taxis can get off the ground, metropolitan areas will need the infrastructure for landing, recharging and taking off 10,000 feet straight up into the air.

Tampa Bay was one of several locations around the country where NASA was considering testing the tool. It decided on Tampa Bay because of the TPO’s extensive mapping data and expertise with GIS.

The TPO collaborated with a NASA researcher to develop and beta-test the model customized for Hillsborough County. It used NASA’s algorithm in combination with local land use, zoning and transportation data.

Ideally air taxi landing sites, or vertiports, are located where they will provide the most benefit to the public, including access to major destinations and connections to other transportation systems. In addition, the flight paths must be considered in three dimensions, with consideration of existing structures, such as skyscrapers, and existing flight paths used by traditional airports.

The TPO, NASA and TBARTA project team demonstrated the tool to planners from local jurisdictions and agencies including the Hillsborough Aviation Authority and the Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority.

But was this just science fiction, or could residents soon be zipping from downtown Tampa To Disney World via air taxi in a scenario reminiscent of the 1997 Bruce Willis move, "The Fifth Element?"

In July 2020, the German company Lilium Air Mobility chose TBARTA to make its first public presentation in the United States. Following the presentation, the TBARTA board voted to begin exploring the next steps leading to a pilot project.

“Air taxis, especially if they come with requirements of certification, are among the most efficient means of transportation, if you look at it from a global economic perspective,” said Tassilo Wanner, Lilium’s vice president of global public and regulatory affairs. “You can do the Orlando-Tampa connection, and everything else in our radius of operational range, on very, very lean infrastructure.”

The Lilium is an electrically powered aircraft that can take off and land vertically, using the power of 36 engines across two wings.

That makes the technology especially attractive for flying between urban areas because it eliminates the need for large landing pads. Vertiports can be built in metropolitan areas that have little open space. They can even be built on rooftops.

The battery powered Lilium Jet has a reported range of 186 miles and a top speed of 190 miles per hour. Based on that, Wanner said a flight between downtown Tampa and St. Petersburg would take eight minutes.

The initial cost is estimated at $60 to $90 per trip but would come down as flights become more frequent and technology advances to allow autonomous trips, Wanner told the TBARTA board.

“Really, the ultimate vision is to be able to commute with the Lilium Jet at a price that would be comparable to being in your own car,” said Lilium’s Marie Masson, who participated in the presentation from Munich, Germany.

Lilium also touts its environmentally friendly technology, through no-emission electric engines and low noise operation of the Lilium Jet. And safety would be assured through Federal Aviation Administration, which would regulate the air traffic patterns and certify the air taxis,

“We can transport many, many people on a single vehicle, as small as it may be,” Masson said.

Following Lilium Jet's presentation, TBARTA was optimistic about the prospect of bringing air taxis to Tampa Bay.

“We want to move forward and implement real mobility solutions," said TBARTA board member Jim Holton. “I think there’s an incredible willingness on the part of this board and the community to move forward with air taxi service.

Tampa Bay, however, will now have to get in line.

In November 2020, Lilium and the city of Orlando got a jump on Tampa Bay, announcing that the company will build its first U.S. office and vertiport in Lake Nona, representing a $25 million investment.

In the two years since TBARTA unanimously approved exploring air taxis, transportation planners are reconsidering who should take the lead on the project.

Since TPA already has the air traffic control technology and the airport would have the room and infrastructure to serve as a hub for air taxis, the aviation authority appears to be in a better position to do the groundwork needed to get air taxis off the ground.

The eight-person Advanced Aviation Technology Committee headed by Brett Fay, director of general aviation at TPA, will conduct a study and then make recommendations to be presented at public meetings.

While the FAA has yet to certify an air taxi service in the United States, Tampa Bay and Orlando aren't the only areas considering commuting by air as a way to relieve traffic on the ground.

According to Technology Hits, there are plans to operate air taxis in four major U.S. cities —Miami, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco — by 2024.

Those cities have been working with the 12-year-old American startup company, Joby Aviation, headquartered in Santa Cruz, California, which claims a range of 150 miles for its air taxis, flying at a higher speed of 200 mph than the Lilium air taxis. The company is looking at corridors already served by private jets and helicopters including Miami to Palm Beach, Los Angeles to Palm Springs and Manhattan to the Hamptons.

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