German company Volocopter has launched a new large electric vertical take-off and landing craft called VoloConnect, with the goal of flying passengers in five years.

Paris and Singapore are in the frame as launch cities in 2023, one year before the Olympics return to Paris for the first time in a century.

Volocopter chief executive Florian Reuter noted Paris 2024 when asked which city would be more likely.

"If I had to make a pick today, it would be Paris," he said, according to Flight Global.

VoloConnect boasts four seats and a maximum cruising speed of 250 kilometres per hour.

It has a flight range of 100km.

According to Volocopter, the company has "consistently and publicly demonstrated its expertise in electric flight for inner-city mobility".

"VoloConnect embodies the next dimension of our mission to offer affordable, efficient, and sustainable flight mobility solutions for cities around the globe," said Reuter.

"We are confident that this aircraft family, and the years of experience and leading innovation on which it's founded, will pioneer the way for electric urban air mobility services to launch commercially and internationally."

Last year, taxi-hailing company Uber announced plans to develop flying taxis in time for Los Angeles 2028.