UAE resident shares why she chose the 2020 Nissan Altima to be her road companion
Louis Tag fell in love with Dubai when he was travelling for his honeymoon in 2015 — since then, he has always been fascinated by the city. Five years later, he chose the emirate as the springboard for a business that will make air taxis and flying cars a reality for the world.
“Most recently, I have established Air Connect in Dubai. An urban air mobility business that aims to help the world transition into air taxis and flying cars. I’m proud to mention that Air Connect is a startup that chose to begin its journey in Dubai and export its technology — built in the UAE — to the world, helping cities everywhere reduce their environmental footprint, by reducing traffic and congestion,” said 37-year-old Tag, who hails from Munich, Germany. He is the chief executive officer of Passnfly.com.
His new company, Advanced Air Transport FZCO, is registered with Dubai Airport Free Zone Authority and will begin its operations in 2022.
Dubai, he said, is the ideal location for his new venture, considering how forward-thinking the UAE’s cities are. “For instance, in Dubai, there are more than 60 helipads — this is far more than in other metropolitan areas worldwide. It has formed a solid pathway into modern air-taxi cities,” said Tag, a lawyer who became an entrepreneur at the age of 25.
He was impressed by the ‘hot innovation test-bed status’ of Dubai. “Many sectors offer world-class opportunities for entrepreneurs to live, invest and work in the UAE. Among the examples are startups like Cafu, an urban car services app for fuel delivery and car washes; YAP, an innovative banking app; and Kitopi, which caters to restaurants, as well as in tourism and entertainment,” he said.
Passnfly, a company that Tag has established and for which he served as CEO over the past 10 years, has developed a technology that automates flight check-ins. The innovation allows passengers to automatically get all their boarding passes issued at the time of booking a flight. Passnfly has served more than 100 million passengers and counting. Wired magazine has ranked the company among the Top 10 of ‘100 hottest startups in Europe’.
Now, Tag is eyeing another record-breaking success with Air Connect in the UAE — aiming to show the world how air taxis can solve traffic woes. “We will launch Air Connect operations in the tourism sector, by which hotel guests will use helicopters to get transferred from the airport to their hotel,” he said.
Scores of hotel guests are checking in and out every day, and a number of them miss their flights because of traffic jams. This is a challenge the startup seeks to solve.
Learning Arabic
Tag's love for Dubai has made him take up Arabic language lessons. “ I wish to visit every emirate, as well as traditional places. I have lived in Barcelona for a few years and during that time, I learnt Spanish. Now, I wish to learn the Arabic language. It is important to understand each other well, for people of different cultures to live together. But often, a smile, a warm heart, and open arms are enough to make friends in new places,” he said. — sandhya@khaleejtimes.com
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