At a star-studded gala in Beverly Hills last month, amid tributes to aerial firefighters and aerospace pioneers, a Slovakian invention quietly stole the show. The AirCar — part sports coupe, part aircraft — sat gleaming under the lights. With the touch of a button, its wings unfurled. In under two minutes, it was ready to fly.

Prince Harry and Buzz Aldrin were there. So were John Travolta and Morgan Freeman. But it was Stefan Klein, the soft-spoken Slovak engineer who dreamed up the AirCar, who received the night’s top engineering prize.

“Receiving this recognition from the Living Legends of Aviation is a tremendous honor and a humbling milestone,” Klein said. “The AirCar fulfills a lifelong dream to bring the freedom of flight into the hands of everyday people.”

Klein’s vision is no longer just a prototype. The vehicle, certified for airworthiness and flight-tested over 170 hours with more than 500 takeoffs and landings, is now headed for mass production.

According to Klein Vision, the AirCar will be available for purchase by early 2026. This would make the AirCar the first mass-produced flying car in the world.

The price? Between $800,000 and $1 million, depending on specs.

From Runway to Highway

Styled like a sleek sports car, the AirCar doesn’t aim to hover like a drone. It’s not a vertical takeoff machine like some of its high-tech rivals, whose idea of an aerial taxi often resembles oversized quadcopter drones. Instead, it requires a short runway — about 300 meters — to lift off. Once airborne, it cruises at 155 miles per hour, powered by a petrol engine and propeller system tucked between its fuselage and tail.

With a range of 621 miles and a ceiling of 18,000 feet, it runs on standard pump fuel and carries two passengers. The design blends advanced aerodynamics with lightweight composite structures.

It is, in essence, a dual-purpose machine: a certified road vehicle and an aircraft in one.

Todd Douglas Miller, director of the Emmy Award-winning documentary Apollo 11, saw it in flight.

“From the cockpit of another aircraft, I watched the AirCar in flight. Stefan Klein and Klein Vision have turned the impossible into reality, merging dreams and science fiction into something breathtakingly real.”

Electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre was the first passenger to fly in it. He likened the experience to something out of a Jules Verne novel.

“One second you speak to the driver, and next, you are up there in the air — an amazing experience,” the 75-year-old Jarre told Sky News.

A Growing Race for the Skies

Klein Vision is not alone in this race. Around the world, conventional aerospace giants like Airbus and tech moguls like Google co-founder Larry Page are funneling billions into airborne mobility.

Airbus’s Project Vahana, for instance, developed a vertical-takeoff electric craft. Its sleek single-passenger design, dubbed Alpha One, made a brief but successful test flight back in 2018. However, the project was eventually snubbed.

In the U.S., the Detroit-based AirSpaceX is designing vertical-lift aircraft to ferry two to four passengers across cities. The company promises to deploy 2,500 vehicles in the U.S. by 2026.

And Uber’s Elevate project — though largely under wraps — points to a future where hailing an air taxi may be as easy as ordering a car.

But most of these efforts remain grounded, either due to regulatory hurdles or limitations in battery technology. Unlike its electric rivals, Klein’s AirCar runs on tried-and-tested combustion engines, a pragmatic choice given current battery limitations.

“The AirCar is a fusion of certified aviation engineering and advanced automotive design,” said Anton Zajac, co-founder of Klein Vision. “We’re not just witnessing the future of transportation — we’re engineering it.”

Zajac added that the AirCar will eventually go electric, “as soon as the energy density of the batteries is good enough.”

In the meantime, the AirCar’s production-ready successor — AirCar 2 — is already in the works. With a 300-horsepower engine, higher cruising speeds, and a 600-nautical-mile range, its first flight is scheduled for September 2025.

Who Will Be Allowed to Fly?

While Slovakia has already certified the AirCar, the vehicle’s use in other countries will depend on local regulators. In the UK, for instance, the Civil Aviation Authority has allocated £20 million to integrate flying taxis into British skies by 2028. Transport Minister Mike Kane believes the first piloted flights could begin as soon as 2026.

Still, early adopters may face bureaucratic turbulence. Potential buyers must be both licensed drivers and certified pilots. Infrastructure, like small takeoff strips or airstrips near cities, will also be key to widespread use.

But the economic promise is substantial. According to Morgan Stanley, the global market for flying cars could hit $1 trillion by 2040 — and balloon to $9 trillion by 2050.

Klein Vision believes it’s ahead of the curve. With plans for Uber-style air taxis and high-end leisure use, the company is betting on both practicality and panache.

“With the launch of our production prototype, we are one step closer to transforming how the world moves,” Klein said. “Merging the road and the sky into a new dimension of personal mobility.”

Whether that future includes buzzing city skies or quiet airstrips in the countryside, one thing is clear: the flying car has finally landed — and it’s almost ready for takeoff.