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Vertiports Take Shape
  • 25 Jan 2025 06:42 AM
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Vertiports Take Shape

by VFS Staff
Vertiflite Jan/Feb 2025

A number of announcements were made at the end of 2024 regarding progress by Skyports Infrastructure on creating operational vertiports. Skyports, based in London, England, was founded in 2018, and its Skyports Infrastructure unit has created partnerships with leading electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) developers.

Joby Aviation announced on Nov. 12 that construction had begun on the first vertiport in the company’s planned Dubai air taxi network in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The vertiport is being constructed by the Dubai Road and Transport Authority (RTA) and Skyports at Dubai International Airport (DXB). The vertiport is one of four initial locations that will form Joby’s network of vertiports for the air taxi service the company plans to launch in the Emirate as soon as late 2025, with three additional vertiports planned for development in Palm Jumeirah, Dubai Downtown and Dubai Marina.

New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) announced on Dec. 9 that “Downtown Skyport” would be the new operator of the Downtown Manhattan Heliport beginning in early 2025, after a competitive request for proposal (RFP) process. Downtown Skyport is a joint venture between Skyports Infrastructure and Groupe ADP, a world leader in airport design, construction, financing and operation. Groupe ADP owns and operates 26 airports worldwide, including Issy-les-Moulineaux Heliport and Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France, and is part of a joint venture operating New York Stewart International Airport. Downtown Skyport will establish New York City as the first city in the world to adapt its heliport infrastructure to support electric aircraft, NYCEDC stated.

On Dec. 12, Skyports Infrastructure and Bicester Motion, a 444-acre (180-hA) future mobility estate in Bicester, Oxfordshire, announced the groundbreaking for the UK’s first vertiport testbed. The vertiport, which is a key output of the Advanced Mobility Ecosystem Consortium, an Innovate UK Future Flight Challenge project, is under construction on a plot of 0.42 acres (0.17 hA), which will include a 1,700-ft² (160-m²) passenger terminal. The vertiport is being constructed adjacent to Bicester Motion’s existing general aviation grass runways and is due to be completed in early 2025. Consortium partners will test and evaluate the vertiport, including demonstration flights with the Vertical Aerospace VX4 (see “eVTOL Leaders Go Global,” Vertiflite Jan/Feb 2025).

 

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