It has taken decades to develop, but Jetpack tourism has taken little time to get up off the ground with the Christchurch company behind the idea now auctioning off test pilot duties.

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Martin Jetpack Company has previously said it was planning to offer flights to the public by early next year, after years of tinkering and testing, along with five years of support from Jenny Morrel’s No 8 Ventures.

But the company has now started a TradeMe auction offering a member of the public a chance to join the flight testing team for a day, with further public flights to follow soon.

The auction started with a $1 reserve but has swiftly risen, with 69 bids bringing the auction to $1500 by 9.30am.

The winner will be the first person outside of the development team to join the company as a test pilot, after 3000 test flights over the past year.

A similar auction that features a three day package has also been offered on eBay, but comes with a $US30,000 reserve.

The TradeMe auction runs until next Thursday.

Total Experience - which runs the operation in partnership with Martin Jetpack – said a “very limited” amount of of individual and corporate flying packages in the jetpack will be made available when the test flight is completed.

But the jetpack is not for everybody, as the auction winner needs to be more than 18 years old, hold a current drivers license and weigh less than 90kg.

It is also tightly controlled, rising just a few metres off the ground and designed to go no faster than 10 kmh.