Several military aircraft take off and land like helicopters by hovering in and out of air bases instead of using landing strips.

If this could happen in most passenger craft then this would revolutionise air travel. It would cut the number of fatal accidents by dodgy take offs/landings thus making flight safer as they say the landing/take off is the most dangerous part of the journey.

It could also part solve the airport capacity issues faced in several cities (London, New York, Atlanta, Tokyo etc) because landing strips would'nt be needed as often as planes could just do vertical take offs from their gates. Less land would be needed.

This is just a dream at the moment for me.

Do you think it is possible? I have read that Airbus are keen on the idea but am not sure how serious they are or whether they are just dreaming too.