Skyports Infrastructure held a preview last week of its now complete vertiport at Bicester Motion in Oxfordshire. This is one of the UK’s first testing grounds and hubs for electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) flights.

Vertiports are a key component of the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) industry, which will not only operate the new generation of low-noise aerial taxis, but also cargo drones and other eVTOL aircraft. Soon, vertiports will begin to appear at transport hubs (air & rail), central urban locations and rural locations, in the UK and around the world, ready to service the nascent AAM industry.

Skyports’ design for a vertiport (they are also developing them in Dubai, Paris and Singapore) includes a small terminal building for operations and passenger processing, with a tarmac landing zone. The terminal occupies just 0.42 acres (0.17 hectares) of land.

Duncan Walker, Chief Executive Officer, Skyports Infrastructure, said: “Completing Bicester adds another vertiport to our rapidly expanding portfolio. We are excited to see commercial AAM operations go live in the near future in the UK.”

During the preview event, attendees were given demonstrations of vertiport operations, including passenger processing, vertiport automation systems for aircraft and passengers, Skyports’ proprietary Remote Management & Scheduling System (RMSS) and situational awareness tools (such as weather sensors and real-time aircraft tracking).

Now, all the new Bicester Skyport needs are some eVTOLs to work with, and that is coming soon. Vertical Aerospace’s VX4 prototype, which is flight testing nearby, will start using it for demonstration flights.

Michael Cervenka, Chief Commercial and Strategy Officer at Vertical Aerospace, says: “Having access to an operationally ready vertiport enables us to validate not just the performance of eVTOL aircraft, but the real-world infrastructure and processes that will support future electric air travel.”