Volocopter’s 2X electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) prototype made a public demonstration flight in Singapore yesterday. The two-passenger aircraft flew for three minutes at a height of around 130 feet over Marina Bay during the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) World Congress.

Numerous aviation regulators attending the congress, including from the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, were present to witness the demonstration, which Volocopter hopes will give officials confidence in the potential for safe eVTOL operations in urban areas. The German company aims to achieve type certification for the VoloCity series production aircraft in 2022 and will operate the model itself for air-taxi services.

Volocopter has been developing its aircraft under the new Special Condition eVTOL certification rules introduced in July 2019 by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. It intends to operate the VoloCity with a pilot and CEO Florian Reuter told reporters that he doesn’t anticipate a quick transition to autonomous operations for eVTOL aircraft.

“We recently carried out flight tests in Helsinki in cold temperatures and air with high salt contents, [after previously flying] in Dubai where the temperature reached 60 degrees and now in Singapore with humid weather,” explained Volocopter co-founder Alexander Zosel. “These flights gave us a better understanding of how the aircraft perform in various conditions and now we will be collecting this data for the VoloCity project.”

In September, Chinese automobile group Geely announced an investment of around $55 million in Volocopter and signaled its intention to bring urban air mobility operations to China. Geely, which also owns a stake in German car maker Daimler, is in discussions to mass-produce the VoloCity and bring down the cost of operating it.

“The partnership with Geely comes naturally and we see huge potential in China where there many megacities,” said Reuter. He added that Volocopter sees Asia as one of the most promising regions for launching eVTOL operations.