World’s first hub for flying taxis has opened in Coventry

Credit: Urban-Air Port®

The world’s first hub for flying taxis and autonomous cargo drones has opened in Coventry.

Air-One® developed by Urban-Air Port® and supported by Supernal will be a fully-operational hub for electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles.

The technology is set to provide a blueprint for more than 200 vertiports planned worldwide by Urban-Air Port® over the next five years to meet growing demand.

The firm says the advanced air mobility (AAM) market is set to take off, with forecasted growth of 9% annually to reach USD $1 trillion within the next two decades.

There is a lack of infrastructure however which is blocking growth according to analysis by NASA.

Air-One® aims to demonstrate how purpose-built ground infrastructure can unleash the potential of AAM to decarbonise transport and cut air pollution and congestion, whilst providing seamless passenger journeys and deliveries.

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.”

Urban-Air Port® has many orders for additional sites, with vertiports already planned in the UK in the West Midlands and London, and internationally in Los Angeles, Australia, South Korea, France, Germany, Scandinavia and South East Asia.  

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

“The Coventry demonstration is an important first step forward to reimagining 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”.

Air-One® is located at Westminster Car Park, in the centre of Coventry (CV1 3fZ).

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