World’s First Urban Air Mobility Vertiport to Be in Coventry UK

If you thought the world’s first vertiport would be in Singapore, Japan, or South Korea, you thunk wrong. Yes, those locales are at the forefront of urban air mobility, but an announcement by UK-based Urban-Air Port (part of the Six Miles Across London Limited small initiative) to launch a vertiport by the end of 2021 has the company jumping the queue ahead of potential competitors.

The Air-One transport hub is to be erected next to the Ricoh Arena, a rugby and entertainment complex in Coventry and will focus on eVTOLs and autonomous delivery drones. The location was chosen partly because it is a historic center for the UK’s automobile and aerospace industries and partly because of its central location, being within four hours of most of Great Britain.

The Air-One project was among the winners of the British Government’s Future Flight Challenge intended to spur innovation in the development of aviation infrastructure that will facilitate the next generation of electric and autonomous aircraft.

The airport will be a zero-emission facility and its unique design allows it to be installed in days. Live demonstrations of the vertiport will be conducted by the consortium’s partner, Coventry University. Additional partners include UAM/eVTOL developer, Hyundai Motor Group, Malloy Aeronautics, and Coventry City Council. Urban Air-Port hopes to install about 200 similar sites worldwide in the next five years.