Indian-origin entrepreneur opens UK's first-ever airport for flying taxi

Coventry, in the UK, has become the site to witness the opening of the first mini-airport or vertiport being celebrated as the "fire of the starting gun" by an Indian-origin entrepreneur, says a PTI report.

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The UK is getting its first mini-airport or vertiport open for demonstrations. The opening of the vertiport is being celebrated by an Indian-origin entrepreneur, as the "fire of the starting gun" for futuristic transportation. Air-One is the UK’s first mini-airport in Coventry, which will be open to the public for demonstrations until the middle of May.

Ricky Sandhu, Founder and Executive Chairman of Urban-Air Port, said the opening of Air-One in Coventry, central England, is momentous for Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) vehicles such as air taxis and autonomous cargo drones. Air-One is expected to provide a blueprint for more than 200 vertiports planned worldwide by Urban-Air Port over the next five years.

"The opening of Air-One is a momentous moment" is 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," said Sandhu.

"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," he said.

"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," he added.

Urban-Air Port is backed by the UK government and supported by Hyundai's Supernal, a US-based smart vehicles service provider.

Air-One is designed to demonstrate how purpose-built ground infrastructure can unleash the potential of advanced air mobility (AAM) to decarbonise transport and cut air pollution and congestion whilst providing seamless passenger journeys and deliveries.

"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 opportunities in the Midlands," said Robert Courts, UK Minister for Aviation.

Despite a booming market and a strong pipeline of eVTOLs entering commercial operations this decade, the lack of ground infrastructure remains one of the biggest barriers to growth, according to an analysis by NASA.

Urban-Air Port said it is accelerating its plan to develop 200 similar 'vertiports' worldwide, and the company's order book for additional sites is growing, with vertiports already planned in the UK in the West Midlands and London, and internationally in the United States (Los Angeles), Australia, South Korea, France, Germany, Scandinavia, and southeast Asia.

Air-One serves as a valuable, tangible asset to help build stakeholder confidence and trust in emerging mobility technology and supporting systems," said Mike Whitaker, Chief Commercial Officer of Supernal.

"The Coventry demonstration is an important first step forward to re-imagining how people across the world will move, connect and live. Developing a scalable system to support advanced air mobility operations requires collaboration from all industries and corners of the world. Supernal's support of Urban-Air Port reinforces our belief in fusing technology and innovation to enable humanity and society to reach new levels of potential," said Whitaker.

During the course of the next few weeks, Air-One will demonstrate aircraft command and control, eVTOL charging, cargo loading for unmanned drones, and will host demonstrator flights.

West Midlands Police and Skyfarer will be among the first to operate flights from the site, showcasing how Urban-Air Port's vertiports can provide drone bases for 'sky protection' and high-value cargo deliveries in the near future.

Flights of large cargo drones will also be demonstrated by UK-based drone developer Malloy Aeronautics, reportedly the first time a drone of this size has flown in such a dense and built-up urban environment.

Acting as a single solution to support the uptake of zero-emissions transport, Air-One will also host charging infrastructure for other modes of electric transportation, including electric vehicles from some of the world's biggest and most well-known automotive brands to "seamlessly integrate low carbon transport".

A series of public engagement events at Air-One is envisioned as bringing future air mobility to life for the public and form part of Coventry's City of Culture celebrations.

According to Urban-Air Port, Coventry was chosen for the site due to its location in the heart of the UK, with most parts of the country within four hours of travel, and its "historic leadership in the automobile and aerospace industries".

Following the programme in Coventry, Urban-Air Port said it will redeploy Air-One to other locations in the UK and internationally to undertake a variety of demonstrations in different environments and settings.

With inputs from PTI