Transport: World's 1st "Jet Taxi" close to debut

The "world's first" electric jet plane capable of taking off and landing vertically has successfully completed test flights in Germany.

The two-seater prototype aircraft is designed by Munich start-up Lilium as an airborne alternative to on-demand ride-sharing services, such as Uber and Lyft.

During the test flights, which took place on 21 April, the vehicle took off vertically like a helicopter before flying horizontally like a regular aeroplane.

Although the plane was piloted remotely for its first voyages, Lilium hopes to test a manned flight in the near future. It also plans to launch a five-seater version of the same craft.

The craft features rows of electric jet engines mounted on the front and rear wings tilt to switch between vertical and horizontal flight. There are 36 engines in total.

According to the company, the craft is the only electric aircraft capable of vertical take-off and landing.

Lilium's CEO Daniel Wiegand said the company had solved some of the "toughest engineering challenges in aviation" with the design.

"The successful test flight programme shows that our ground-breaking technical design works exactly as we envisioned," he said. "We can now turn our focus to designing the five-seater production aircraft."

Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) is not a new concept but previous proposals for electric VTOL craft have involved tilting rotors or drone-like propellers mounted horizontally.

However Lilium claims to have developed an electric version of a jet engine, which is more powerful and more efficient at high speeds, as well as being quieter and vibration- and emission-free.

Since they can be individually controlled, aircraft powered by electric jets do not require tail fins or steering flaps.