A LUXURIOUS electric jet is the golden ticket to never having to sit in traffic again - if you can afford it. The Lilium Jet, from Germany-based Lilium Air Mobility, can turn what would be a three hour car journey into just a 35 minute flight. Speaking to The Sun, co-founder and chief engineer Daniel Wiegand said: "I had to drive from Birmingham to come [to Farnborough], which took almost three hours because of traffic jams.
"I could have done that in 35 minutes with a Lilium jet." That means an equivalent three hour journey, between London and Birmingham for example, could be completed in a similar time. Today's travellers are in for a two hour slog on the train if they try to avoid traffic - and that's if there are no delays, cancellations or changes.
Each flight costs about $2.50 per kilometre, and with London to Birmingham some 190km apart - the trip would cost roughly $470 (£365) one-way. Wiegand is keen to note that while this could replace helicopters and business jets, it is distinctly not an air taxi Bosses dub it a "regional electric jet airplane" - meaning it's not made for darting 10 miles across a city.
Instead, it's built for further regional travel, or anywhere between 40 and 200 miles. "This need for regional high-speed transportation to connect different cities in much less time - this need exists really everywhere on the globe," said Wiegand. "You're spending hours on the ground in traffic jams [when] you can save a lot of time by flying.
"But if you take a.