Munich Airport International (MAI) and Urban-Air Port (UAP) have announced that they will be working together to develop eVTOL ground infrastructure and airport operations that facilitate the vertical take-off and landing of electric air taxis.
The partners say they intend to couple MAI’s extensive airport knowledge and operational experience with UAP’s innovative ground infrastructure technology and solutions to provide a roadmap for efficient and sustainable flight operations.
UK-based UAP is currently working on its Air One project, which it describes as “a fully operational and integrated airport for drones and eVTOLs that interlinks air mobility with ground transportation in a multimodal hub”. The concept is due to be demonstrated in Coventry in the UK in spring 2022. Air One will be an ultra-compact, rapidly deployable, multifunctional operations hub for manned and unmanned vehicles, providing aircraft command and control, charging and refuelling, cargo and passenger loading, and other associated services.
The new collaboration will see MAI bring both its aviation and non-aviation expertise to the planning, development and operation of Air One in order to aid the successful introduction and operation of UAP’s vertiport solution. According to the partners, they will also be collaborating on longer-term projects and opportunities, with an initial focus on use cases and markets which are expected to emerge in the next couple of years.
Dr Ralf Gaffal, MAI’s managing director, commented: “The aviation industry is constantly evolving. While urban air mobility was a vague vision just a few years ago, this trend is within reach today.
“We at Munich Airport International see great potential in this new mode of transportation and have developed an advanced air mobility programme to actively shape the future. Partnering with Urban-Air Port allows us to join forces in designing, implementing and operating scalable and sustainable urban-air ports around the world.”
Ricky Sandhu, UAP’s founder and executive chairman, said: “Urban-Air Port is not only working with the world’s leading developers of eVTOLs, but also developing the full ecosystem to enable air mobility to take flight by building strategic partnerships with major mobility and industry partners across the world.
“This collaboration with Munich Airport International, the ‘five-star standard’ in airport operations, allows us to jointly develop our expertise in airport development and operations. Moreover, we can lay the foundations for a globally integrated urban air transport network.
“Together, we strive to play a major role in shaping the future of urban air mobility and to equip and adapt the aviation industry to meet the needs of the coming decades.”
Photo: Urban-Air Port
