 | This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia.(December 2024) |
A vertiport (verti- is for vertical and port for harbour, analogous to airport) is a future, as yet rarely realised concept of a take-off and landing site for aircraft taking off and landing vertically, eVTOLs. [1] [2] It can be part of a vertihub if there is a large volume of air traffic. A vertiport is similar to a heliport or helipad.
A Vertihub is the largest unit of the eVTOL starting and landing infrastructure. For example, there are 10 take-off and landing bays and 20 additional bays for parking and maintenance. [3] It is a take-off and landing site for a large number of eVTOLs. It comprises at least two vertiports or vertipads and serves as the largest structure in the UAM environment. Vertihubs are intended for densely populated regions with high traffic volumes. [3] The name is derived from vertical and hub, which stands for airline hub.
Vertibases are of medium size. They are located in suburbs with medium traffic volumes or at important work or retail locations. Typically, they have around three take-off and landing bays and twice as many parking and maintenance bays. [3]
Vertistations are mobile and modular Vertistation Mobility Hubs. [4]
Vertipads are the smallest unit. In city centres they fit well, e.g. on top of existing buildings. [3]
As there are currently only prototypes and no authorised series models of eVTOLs, all vertiports to date are only short-term, temporary projects. There has been a vertiport in Chicago, USA, since 2015. [5] In Coventry, UK, a vertiport (Air-One) was opened in April 2022 by the operating company Urban Air-Port, which is currently used by drones. 200 similar vertiports are planned worldwide. From 2024, eVTOLs will also take off and land there. Since 2020, Lilium has been planning to build a vertiport near Orlando International Airport in Lake Nona, United States. [6] Joby Aviation entered into a partnership with REEF Technology and Neighborhood Property Group (NPG) to use the roofs of car parks as take-off and landing areas.
The first vertiport prototype for eVTOLs in Singapore was created by Volocopter and Skyports as part of the ITS World Congress 2019 and exhibited for a few days at The Float at Marina Bay. The architecture is by Berlin-based innovation agency Brandlab. [7] There are Vertiport projects in Rome (the first in Italy), the South of France (2026) and Hamburg.
Mobile vertipads are planned in advance. There are construction companies, some of which have specialised in vertiports, such as Ferrovial. [8]
ITA Airways, Airbus, UrbanV and Enel are working together on an Advanced Air Mobility (aam) ecosystem in Italy. Airbus is contributing the aircraft, UrbanV is the vertiport network operator and Enel is the solution provider. UrbanV plans to become a major global vertiport network operator. They also aim to take a leading role in establishing some of the world's first eVTOL routes. [9]
Joby Aviation is planning air taxi services in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates. Four vertiports are projects for this from 2026. [10]
Iqaluit Airport serves Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada and is located adjacent to the city. It hosts scheduled passenger service from Ottawa, Montreal, Rankin Inlet, and Kuujjuaq on carriers such as Canadian North, and from smaller communities throughout eastern Nunavut. It is also used as a forward operating base by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). In 2011, the terminal handled more than 120,000 passengers.
An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand.
Ferrovial S.E., previously Grupo Ferrovial, is a Spanish multinational company that operates in the infrastructure sector for transportation and mobility with four divisions: Highways, Airports, Construction, and Mobility and Energy Infrastructure. The Highway sector develops, finances, and operates tolls on highways such as the 407 ETR, the North Tarrant Express, the LBJ Express, Euroscut Azores, I-66, I-77, NTE35W, and Ausol I. The Construction business designs and builds public and private works such as roads, highways, airports, and buildings. The Mobility and Energy Infrastructure Department is responsible for managing renewable energy, sustainable mobility, and circular-economy projects. Ferrovial is present in more than 20 countries where its business lines operate.
A personal air vehicle (PAV) is a proposed class of passenger aircraft providing on-demand air transport.
A passenger drone is an autonomous aircraft that is designed to carry a small number of passengers to a destination.
Urban air mobility (UAM) is the use of small, highly automated aircraft to carry passengers or cargo at lower altitudes in urban and suburban areas which have been developed in response to traffic congestion. It usually refers to existing and emerging technologies such as traditional helicopters, vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft (VTOL), electrically propelled vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft (eVTOL), and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). These aircraft are characterized by the use of multiple electric-powered rotors or fans for lift and propulsion, along with fly-by-wire systems to control them. Inventors have explored urban air mobility concepts since the early days of powered flight. However, advances in materials, computerized flight controls, batteries and electric motors improved innovation and designs beginning in the late 2010s. Most UAM proponents envision that the aircraft will be owned and operated by professional operators, as with taxis, rather than by private individuals.
Lilium N.V. is a German aerospace company which is the developer of the Lilium Jet, an electrically powered personal air vehicle capable of VTOL flight.
The Lilium Jet is a prototype German electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) electrically powered airplane designed by Lilium GmbH. A seven-seat production version is planned.
The Airbus CityAirbus is a multinational project by Airbus Helicopters to produce an electrically powered VTOL personal air vehicle demonstrator. It is intended for the air taxi role, to avoid ground traffic congestion.
The Airbus Vahana was an electric-powered eight-propeller VTOL personal air vehicle prototype, or eVTOL, financed by A³, by Airbus and Airbus Urban Mobility. The Vahana project started in 2016 as one of the first projects at A³, the advanced projects and partnerships outpost of Airbus Group in Silicon Valley. Airbus "envision[s] Vahana being used by everyday commuters as a cost-comparable replacement for short-range urban transportation like cars or trains". It was planned to be a part of urban air mobility. The project was finished in December 2019.
Joby Aviation is a United States venture-backed aviation company, developing an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft that it intends to operate as an air taxi service. Joby Aviation is headquartered in Santa Cruz, California, and has offices in San Carlos, California; Marina, California; and Munich, Germany.
Volocopter GmbH is a German aircraft manufacturer based in Bruchsal and founded by Alexander Zosel and Stephan Wolf. The company specializes in the design of electric multirotor helicopters in the form of personal air vehicles, designed for air taxi use. The CEO is Dirk Hoke and chairman Stefan Klocke.
Dallas CBD Vertiport is a city-owned public heliport/vertiport in the city of Dallas, Dallas County, Texas, United States. The facility is located at the south end of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in the Dallas Central Business District, and is claimed to be the world's largest elevated heliport/vertiport.
Vertical Aerospace Ltd. is an aerospace manufacturer based in Bristol, England. It designs and builds zero emission, electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) electrically powered aircraft.
Beta Technologies, is a South Burlington, Vermont-based aerospace manufacturer developing electric vertical take off and landing (eVTOL) and electric conventional take-off and landing (eCTOL) aircraft for the cargo, medical passenger, and military aviation industries. The company has also developed a network of chargers which can supply power to their aircraft and other electric vehicles. Training programs for future electric aircraft pilots and maintainers are also provided.
The Boeing Passenger Air Vehicle (PAV) is an American electrical powered autonomous personal air vehicle prototype developed by the Boeing NeXt division of Boeing with the assistance of Aurora Flight Sciences.
An electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft is a variety of VTOL aircraft that uses electric power to hover, take off, and land vertically. This technology came about owing to major advances in electric propulsion and the emerging need for new aerial vehicles for Advanced Air Mobility and Urban Air Mobility that can enable greener and quieter flights. Electric and hybrid propulsion systems (EHPS) have also the potential of lowering the operating costs of aircraft.
The VoloRegion is an electrically powered aircraft that can take off and land vertically (eVTOL). It is being developed by the German company Volocopter.
Archer Aviation Inc. is a publicly traded company headquartered in San Jose, California, which is developing eVTOL aircraft.
Advanced air mobility (AAM) are systems that incorporate support for next-generation transport such as such as remotely piloted, autonomous, or vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft. This includes those powered by electric or hybrid-electric propulsion.