Aeromobil, a flying car designed by Slovakian Stefan Klein, could take off

Mankind's primordial dream of flight is taking off with a new twist as a Slovak prototype of a flying car spreads its wings.

Inspired by the dreamy books about flying by French authors Jules Verne and Antoine de Saint Exupery, Slovak designer and engineer Stefan Klein has been honing his flying machine since the early 1990s.

"I got the idea to start working on a vehicle of the future at university, but honestly, who hasn't dreamt of flying while being stuck in the traffic?" Klein said.

"Flying's in my blood. My grandfather and my father flew ultralight aircraft and I got my pilot's licence before I was old enough to drive a car," said Klein, who has designed cars for BMW, Volkswagen and Audi and now teaches at the Bratislava-based Academy of Fine Arts and Design.

His elegant blue-and-white vehicle for two is only six metres long so it fits neatly in a parking space or garage and can be fuelled at any petrol station. But once it reaches an airport it can unfold its wings within seconds, becoming a plane.

Dubbed "the world's prettiest and best-designed airborne automobile so far" by US aviation magazine Flying, the Aeromobil also has the distinction of originating in Slovakia, the world's largest per-capita car producer.

"So far there have been about 20 attempts to manufacture a flying car around the globe," said the president of the Slovak Ultra Light Aviation Federation, Milan Ciba. "Among them, Aeromobil appears very viable."