MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The passenger drone will be operated from the ground and will take off vertically, like a helicopter.
"In the first stage, the testing will be conducted with cargo, but later, after several test flights, it [the drone] could be used as a passenger one," Aviaton CEO Avtandil Khachapuridze said as quoted by the newspaper on Friday.
According to Izvestia, Aviaton estimates that it will need 1.5 billion rubles ($23 million) to create the first model of the passenger drone.
The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, or drones) alongside manned aircraft could be legalized in Russia by 2020, according to the newspaper.
