The head of the Ministry of Transport, Andrey Nikitin, has revealed when Russia might get its own air taxi.
Russia could get its own air taxi within just two to three years. This timeframe was cited by the head of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, Andrey Nikitin, in an interview with TASS on the sidelines of the International Youth Forum. According to him, the developers of unmanned air taxis are preparing to soon submit their designs to Rosaviatsia. There, the technology will have to undergo a certification procedure.
"Very, very soon, the manufacturers of such unmanned air taxis will bring them to Rosaviatsia. And we will test them, because an air taxi must be as safe as possible. It's close — two to three years, maybe five years — all of this will happen," said the head of the Ministry of Transport, Andrey Nikitin.
He also reported that prototypes of air taxis already exist in Russia. They are currently undergoing testing, but are not yet adapted for flights in difficult weather conditions.
Earlier, in 2025, Maxim Kalyagin, chief designer of the "Unmanned Aerial Vehicles" center at the "Aeromobility" Directorate of the Moscow Aviation Institute, said that the first air taxi routes would connect airports to each other.