The future of flying may nearly be here as you could soon see air taxis connecting communities across Tampa Bay. Leaders in St. Petersburg took a step Monday toward bringing the technology to our area. The city could be one of the first in the nation to compete with traditional rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft but with advanced air mobility (AAM) aircraft like eVTOLs, which stands for electric vertical take off and landing aircraft. They typically look like giant drones and are considered easier and safer to fly than helicopters and are much quieter. It would be fitting for Tampa Bay to be at the forefront of aviation because the world's first commercial airline flight happened in 1914 between St. Pete and Tampa with renowned pilot Tony Jannus (yup the namesake for Jannus Landing) at the helm. But that airline, the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line, also folded in less than a year, something leaders now say they wouldn't want to see again. Monday night, the St. Pete aviation task force, created by city council, learned more about the industry some analysts think could soon be worth trillions of dollars and how air taxis could shuttle passengers between Tampa Bay airports. “There is a huge business application,” says St. Petersburg Aviation Task Force member Ryan Barnett. “With any emerging technology, it's timing it right and making sure it's to a point of maturity that we're not entering too late, but we're not too early where the entire market shifts.” With final rules from the FAA issued late last year, the race is on for startups in AAM to get aircraft and pilots approved and find willing partners on the ground to set up infrastructure like charging stations and launch sites. What [council] told us to do is investigate it because it is the next element of aviation that's coming,” says task force member and Friends of Albert Whitted Airport executive director, Walt Driggers. “And it is coming, it's going to come whether we like it or not.” But new aviation ideas have sputtered before, Tampa Bay had the world's first commercial airline but it closed in months once a government subsidy ran out. Only one passenger could be ferried at a time and tickets cost $5, equivalent to around $160 today. Tampa International Airport hosted the first test flight for a commercial eVTOL two years ago but that company, Volocopter, is already out of business, having declared its insolvent before it was bought by a competitor. “You always want to be leading when some big change is coming,” says task force chair and former St. Petersburg councilman Ed Montanari. “There's a lot of companies back when aviation first started that aren't around anymore, and that's kind of where we are right now with this brand-new technology.” It's estimated commercial air taxis could be up in the air in the next five years and as for the cost, some operators claim that with widespread adoption, a shuttle from St. Pete to the airport in Tampa would cost around $80, comparable to an Uber Black ride. “We're on the leading edge,” says Driggers. “Who knows where it's going to go, but it's exciting, it's fun stuff.”