Nice Côte d’Azur Airport is preparing to host Europe’s first commercial eVTOL, or electric vertical take-off and landing, operations, in a project that could bring fully electric air taxis to the Monaco-Nice route as early as 2029.
The initiative is being developed through a partnership between American manufacturer Joby Aviation, air mobility platform Blade, and helicopter operators Héli Sécurité and Monacair, the Principality’s own long-established operator. Monacair brings its recognised expertise in the Monaco market and experience in premium air transport, while Blade, Joby’s air mobility brand, is supporting the commercial and operational rollout of the new service, acting as the bridge between today’s helicopter operations and the eventual introduction of Joby’s electric aircraft.
The project builds on more than 50 years of established helicopter transport along the Côte d’Azur, a market that already serves an international clientele with fast connections between Nice, Monaco, Cannes and Saint-Tropez. Nice Côte d’Azur Airport, which welcomed more than 15 million passengers in 2025 and holds Level 5 Airport Carbon Accreditation from Airport Council International, is positioning itself as a natural candidate to host one of Europe’s first commercial eVTOL services, aided by its seafront location, which allows flight paths that avoid densely populated areas.
Once certified by the relevant European and French aviation authorities, Joby’s electric aircraft is expected to offer a notably quieter alternative to helicopters, with no direct CO2 emissions, part of what the company describes as a new generation of quiet, zero-emission air mobility. The aircraft is already flying commercially in Dubai, and Joby considers the French Riviera an ideal location for its first European operations.
JoeBen Bevirt, Founder and CEO of Joby, said electric aviation has the potential to fundamentally transform how people travel, making air transport cleaner, quieter and more accessible, adding that Nice Côte d’Azur Airport was setting a benchmark for how airports can prepare for this new era of aviation. Franck Goldnadel, Chairman of the Executive Board of Aéroports de la Côte d’Azur, echoed that sentiment, describing the airport as a testing ground for the airport of tomorrow and voicing support for innovations that maintain the region’s connectivity while cutting both emissions and aircraft noise.
No official launch date or ticket pricing has yet been confirmed, though the project’s backers have pointed to 2029 as a target for introducing the service. If it proceeds as planned, the seven-minute Monaco-Nice hop, long one of the busiest and most iconic helicopter routes on the Riviera, would become one of the first commercial eVTOL routes anywhere in Europe, offering travellers a quieter, lower-emission alternative for airport transfers and major events in the Principality.