The EU’s European Aviation Safety Agency has given the final green light for a Dutch company to begin building and selling production models of its flying car, the PAL-V Liberty.
It’s a milestone for the company which has taken 20 years to get to this point. While it and a few others have advanced to testing actual vehicles, this is the first licensed to actually begin commercial production and sales, although the company says first deliveries will be in 2028.
“Now that EASA approval is in, we will really start producing the first cars soon. We then have to test them again to show once more that we meet all the guidelines. That takes about a year and a half,” according to CEO Robert Dingemanse.
250 have been pre-sold at prices between €300 and €500,000, mostly to fire departments, police and military. Operating such vehicles requires both a pilot license and a driver license.
The company has stopped sales for now at the 250 mark because planned production is limited to about 100 a year. Sales will resume as production ramps up, if the market is there. That’s a question, because during the extended development period, the development of small electric aircraft such as air taxis may have reduced the market.
