A “world-first” fully operational hub for future electric urban aircraft will be opened in Coventry later this year after securing UK government backing.
The Urban Air Port Air-One has been selected as the winner of the government’s Future Flight Challenge, a competition to develop aviation infrastructure for anticipated electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, such as cargo drones and air taxis.
Urban Air Port has been selected by Hyundai Motor Group’s Urban Air Mobility Division as its priority infrastructure partner, with the Korean firm planning to build its own eVTOL aircraft and commercialise it by 2028.
The port is said to be 60% smaller than a traditional heliport. Construction techniques allow the site to be installed in “a matter of days, emit net-zero carbon emissions” and operate “completely off-grid,” according to the firm.
A total of 200 sites are planned within the next five years to “meet global demand”. NASA claims urban air mobility could in the US alone be worth up to £375bn in the near-term, although there's debate over the legislative hurdles to overcome before such vehicles can be operated in numbers.
Urban Air Port founder Ricky Sandhu said “Cars need roads, trains need rails, planes need airports, eVTOLs will need Urban Air Ports. [They] will improve connectivity across our cities, boost productivity and help the UK to take the lead in a whole new clean global economy”.
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This location (essentialy, Car Park C of the Coventry Ricoh Stadium) is barely suitable. Have they not heard of the Air Navigation Order or the Congested Area rules.
Is it April the first already?, I think this a bit too forward thinking, flying cars could be fifty years away, the Airways are already crowed with Planes and Drones, the airwaves are crammed too, so safe flight becomes an issue, and the Internet is just about coping just now, how are they going to solve these problems?
What a joke.
Last week we learned that the govn is planning to open a new coal mine and now batteries are the future for civil aviation, despite their appalling power to weight ratio.
And why stick it in Coventry? There's nothing there!
As far as it being in Coventry that is because it's the automotive and transport engineering and manufacturing hub of the UK so it allows companies to test out new tech on their doorsteps.