The world's first urban airport that will allow 'flying taxis' to take off and land in the busy areas of cities has opened up in Coventry, central England.
While engineers and designers around the world are working on vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft to make them feasible for rapid urban transport, the UK-based startup Urban-Air Port Ltd (UAP) is working to demonstrate that the infrastructure needed to make these urban aerial transport centres an operational reality is not as complicated as it may seem. Indeed, UAP's first pop-up airport, dubbed Air One, was completed in 15 months, including the planning and building of the airport.
Powered by hydrogen fuel cells, Air One is designed to be fully autonomous and integrates with electric vehicles to deliver a zero-emission urban public transport system. The airport can handle electric drones and air taxis.
Do you know anyone who owns a flying car or has ever hitched a ride in an eVTOL taxi? No, OGN doesn't either. But they're coming!
So, to put your mind at ease, UAP's airport is just a pop-up and will be dismantled on 15 May. It will then pop-up again somewhere else in the UK.
As the eVTOL market shapes up, Urban Airport plans to set up its urban airports at more than 200 locations worldwide with planning for airports in the busy cities of London, Los Angeles as well in countries such as Germany, France, South Korea, and Australia.
Now, we can't wait for the eVTOL technology to catch up.