Photo: Stefan Baldauf / Guido ten Brink
For decades, various companies and individuals have strived to make flying cars a reality, but despite their efforts they all failed. With all the evidence pointing to the contrary, Dutch company Pal-V still believes this can happen. And it might just be the first to make these machines a reality.
If you happen to live or have a business in the Gulf Cooperation Council region (GCC), chances are in the not so distant future you'll be able to drive from your garage to the airport and fly away from there in the same vehicle.
Pal-V announced this week it struck a deal with Kuwait Airways (KAC) to have its machines serviced at the airline's maintenance facilities. But most importantly, KAC has expressed interest in using the gyro-car on its own, as part of a last-mile solution for its customers.
“Because the PAL-V can use the same airports that we are using it is a vehicle that can provide our customers with a last mile solution," said in a statement Kamil H. Al-Awadhi, CEO of Kuwait Airways.
"Which will offer our customer a door-to-door journey instead of airport to airport.”
It's unclear when such a service would become functional.
The Pal-V is a self-stabilizing aircraft that doubles as a car. It is equipped with a dual-engine that allows it to reach a top speed of 160 km/h (99 mph) on land or 140 km/h in the air (87 mph, economic cruise speed).
At first, the vehicle will only be offered as a Pioneer edition, a limited 90-units production run that comes with a few extra touches. No technical or performance improvements compared to the stock version have been announced so far.
The regular Pal-V sells for $399,000, taxes not included, while the Pioneer sells for $599,000 despite the fact that, as per the manufacturer's own admission, brings only $150,000 worth of extras.
Pal-V announced this week it struck a deal with Kuwait Airways (KAC) to have its machines serviced at the airline's maintenance facilities. But most importantly, KAC has expressed interest in using the gyro-car on its own, as part of a last-mile solution for its customers.
“Because the PAL-V can use the same airports that we are using it is a vehicle that can provide our customers with a last mile solution," said in a statement Kamil H. Al-Awadhi, CEO of Kuwait Airways.
"Which will offer our customer a door-to-door journey instead of airport to airport.”
It's unclear when such a service would become functional.
The Pal-V is a self-stabilizing aircraft that doubles as a car. It is equipped with a dual-engine that allows it to reach a top speed of 160 km/h (99 mph) on land or 140 km/h in the air (87 mph, economic cruise speed).
At first, the vehicle will only be offered as a Pioneer edition, a limited 90-units production run that comes with a few extra touches. No technical or performance improvements compared to the stock version have been announced so far.
The regular Pal-V sells for $399,000, taxes not included, while the Pioneer sells for $599,000 despite the fact that, as per the manufacturer's own admission, brings only $150,000 worth of extras.
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