Urban aviation has taken one further step towards becoming a reality. The VoloPort – the world’s first full-scale passenger air taxi vertiport – is being showcased at the Intelligence Transport System (ITS) World Congress in Singapore. It’s been developed by Volocopter, the German eVTOL manufacturer, alongside its British infrastructure partner, Skyports.
We talked to Skyports’ Managing Director, Duncan Walker, who explained that the company locates and secure sites, and designs, build and operates passenger and cargo vertiports in cities.
“The VoloPort allows us and Volocopter to perform real-life testing of the customer journey and demonstrate to industry and the public what they might expect when using a vertiport in the future,” says Walker.
He explains that vertiports can be located on top of buildings, on water and across other major transport infrastructure, such as railway lines and roads, to create a truly integrated, multi-modal transport solution.
“Vertiports come in a number of configurations: from single take-off and landing pads for a single vehicle to multiple take-off and landing-pads and vehicle stands to accommodate simultaneous take-offs and landings.”
Starting in Singapore, London and Los Angeles, it’s aiming to expand into other major cities worldwide.
“The VoloPort prototype is the first step on the journey to bringing urban air mobility to Singapore. We have already identified a number of potentially suitable take-off and landing sites for vertiport introduction and viable aerial taxi routes across the city. Working with Volocopter and the Singaporean authorities, we hope to make urban aviation a reality in Singapore over the next few years,” notes Walker.
“Standing inside the VoloPort makes Urban Air Mobility feel extremely real and demonstrates that air taxi operations are not a faraway future, but very feasible to achieve within the next twoto five years. Today marks a fantastic step forward!” says Florian Reuter, CEO of Volocopter.
Why did Volocopter and Skyports choose Singapore to showcase the VoloPort? Walker says that Singapore has big ambitions in relation to air taxi services.
“What makes Singapore special is that an air taxi service would be able to complement the city’s first-class ground-based transport infrastructure, like the MRT, connect the urban centre with neighbouring islands that are currently underserved with transport links and introduce new connections along routes where the capacity of existing infrastructure is unable to cope with peak-time flows of traffic.”
Walker says that the Singaporean authorities are more progressive and innovative in their approach to regulations than many other countries but they do take safety and security just as seriously.
“We welcome this approach because it provides a robust benchmark for other countries to follow. Singaporean agencies are also very strategic in their approach to planning for the future and we must align our objectives with their plans.”
Aerial taxis operating from vertiports on top of buildings in city centres is a very new concept. Walker says it’s natural that people may be concerned about safety and and seeing them fly above cities.
“The whole industry needs to reassure people that the vehicles are safe, that noise will be kept to a minimum and they will not have a negative impact on the environment.”
He adds: “Fortunately, urban air mobility has a positive story to tell: regulations are place to guarantee that only safe eVTOLs will take to the skies, the vehicles will be much quieter than helicopters and, since they are electrically powered, the vehicles produce zero emissions.”
As for the future of eVTOLs and urban air travel, Walker says that the first vehicles will be certified and initial urban flights will take place in 2021. He expects a rapid scale up from around 2023. By 2030 he predicts that air taxis will be a common form of transportation in, around and between cities.
Keyword: Full-scale Vertiport on Show in Singapore – We Talk to eVTOL Infrastructure Company Skyports