Soon flying taxis to arrive in Singapore to test cleaner, quieter sky ride

Citi expects designers to keep tweaking the technology and working with regulators so they can start to offer regular air taxi services from 2025

A British company says it’s building the world’s first “vertiport” for electric aircraft in Singapore, an early step towards a global network for flying taxis. Essex-based Skyports Ltd. plans to show off the vertical take-off and landing station at Marina Bay during the Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress from October 21-25. Germany’s Volocopter GmbH will bring along its electric aircraft for a demonstration flight.

Urban air transport isn’t new—helicopters have been doing it for decades. What’s changing is that better batteries and innovative designs are making it cheaper, cleaner and quieter. Companies are just trying to demonstrate the technology’s capabilities for now, but a report from Citigroup said sales of air taxis could reach $5 billion by the end of the next decade.

“Helicopters have been around a long time but they’re not well used, particularly in cities, because they’re noisy, dangerous and polluting,” Skyports Managing Director Duncan Walker said by phone. “We’re really trying to make it a form of transportation for anybody, not just the extremely wealthy.”

Citi expects designers to keep tweaking the technology and working with regulators so they can start to offer regular air taxi services from 2025. It could be even sooner, with Uber Technologies Inc. targeting launches in Los Angeles, Dallas and Melbourne as early as 2023. As many as 20,000 electric passenger aircraft could be sold annually by 2030, Citi said in its report last month…

Read Source: Business Standard

Why are 65-year-olds learning how to program software in aging Singapore?

In Singapore, where productivity is falling as the labor force gets older, workers are being encouraged to adopt new skills for a digital world

International News: Most 65-year-olds would be looking to wind down their careers as they hit retirement. But in Singapore, which has one of the highest life expectancies in the world at nearly 85 years and where the government soon plans to raise the retirement age, workers are being pushed to learn new skills to stay productive.

Valerie Yeong-Tan, who’s worked for 47 years at Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., is one such example. She’s an administrator in the human resources department with no prior programming knowledge, but was recently persuaded to take bot-building courses to improve her skills.

“Learning is a lifelong process, and I want to keep my mind active,” the 65-year-old said in an interview at a new Singtel office in Singapore, where it will conduct training. “I also hope to encourage and inspire the younger generation of workers, and show them that you can learn new skills no matter how far you are in your career….

 

ASEAN Summit: Political pressures driving nations apart, warns Singapore PM

Leaders including Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and US Vice President Mike Pence are meeting this week in the city-state

Singapore’s prime minister Lee Hsien Loong made an impassioned plea Monday for open markets and warned “political pressures” were driving countries apart, in a swipe at rising protectionism at the start of a gathering of world leaders.

Leaders including Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and US Vice President Mike Pence are meeting this week in the city-state against the backdrop of a months-long trade dispute between Beijing and Washington.|ASEAN Summit

Some of those attending are expected to announce major progress on a massive China-backed trade deal that excludes the US, in a rebuke to President Donald Trump’s increasingly unilateralist approach to international commerce.

Trump is skipping the annual summit — which was regularly attended by his predecessor Barack Obama — in a sign of how far he has withdrawn from attempts to shape the global rules of trade and raising new questions about Washington’s commitment to Asia.| International News

Addressing a business forum ahead of this week’s main meetings, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called for Southeast Asian companies to invest more in each others’ markets and be more open to foreign competition. The more integrated and open our markets are, and the more conducive our rules and business environments to foreign investment, the larger the pie will grow, and the more we will all benefit,” he said.

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