Urban-Air Port, the UK-based developer of ground infrastructure for air taxis and autonomous delivery drones, has opened Air-One, a world-first demonstration of a fully-operational hub for electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles.
Urban-Air Port – backed by the UK government and supported by US-based mobility service provider Supernal – will operate Air-One in the heart of Coventry for at least one month. Air-One aims to provide a blueprint for more than 200 vertiports planned worldwide by Urban-Air Port over the next five years to meet growing demand.
Ricky Sandhu, founder and executive chairman of Urban-Air Port, said: “The opening of Air-One is a momentous moment – the starting gun for a new age of transport, an age of zero-emission, congestion-free travel between and within cities that will make people healthier, happier and more connected than ever before. Cars have roads. Trains have rails. Planes have airports. Now, eVTOLs have an Urban-Air Port.
“From design, through to fabrication and now into operation, Urban-Air Port has delivered Air-One in just 15 months, setting the standard for deployment globally and opening up a world of possibilities for rapid response air mobility. Air-One is just the first model in our infrastructure fleet and our order-book is not only open but already growing. The interest is turning into recognition of the need for our technology and into demand.”
Air-One will work to demonstrate how purpose-built ground infrastructure can unleash the potential of advanced air mobility to decarbonise transport and cut air pollution and congestion, whilst providing seamless passenger journeys and deliveries through the use of air taxis and autonomous cargo drones.
Minister for aviation, Robert Courts, added: “British innovation has a rich history of transforming global transportation, from the creation of the railroads in the 1800s, to the growth of great British brands such as Jaguar, Triumph and Rover in the 1950s.
“The opening of Air-One, backed by government funding, will revolutionise the way people and goods travel across the nation. This step forward puts Britain at the vanguard of clean transport, bringing investment and high-skilled, green job opportunities to the nation, while levelling up opportunity in the Midlands.”
