Skyportz unveils design for Australia’s first vertiport

Skyportz has published its design for the first vertiport in Australia. The port will service the emerging electric air taxi industry at the AAUS annual Advanced Air Mobility summit in Melbourne.

The vertiport will be located at Caribbean Park in Melbourne’s east. Caribbean Park and Skyportz have worked with Contreras Earl Architects, to70 aviation, ARUP and Microflite to come up with a modular design to meet operational requirements.

Clem Newton-Brown, CEO, Skyportz said: “With the development of a vertiport in a business park we are breaking the nexus between aviation and airports. For this industry to succeed it needs to have policy makers pushing the envelope to support new ‘mini airports’ in locations people want to go.”

“However community support is going to be the key to the development of these services. The community is going to have to see the benefits,” she added.

The Federal regulator, CASA recently published a roadmap for the introduction of AAM to Australia. It is predicted that some eVTOL aircraft will be commercially viable in the coming years, with some timelines including 2024 for limited initial passenger carrying flights, said CASA.

Newton-Brown said: “Electric air taxis will be a new era in aviation where clean, green and quiet small aircraft can take people to places they want to go – be it work or leisure. The Caribbean Park vertiport is the first in a network of sites we will establish in advance of the aircraft becoming operational.”

Skyportz plans to seek investment partners to fund the construction of the vertiport at Caribbean Park which will be the first in a stable of vertiports strategically located around Australia.