Volo-Port for air taxis
>
UK-based global vertiport owner and operator Skyports and the German air taxi company Volocopter unveiled plans for the Volo-Port – the physical landing pads for so-called eVTOL (electric take-off and landing).
A connected infrastructure network is a key enabler for the deployment of urban air mobility services. Skyports are the first to market in securing, designing, building and owning passenger and cargo vertiports in the world’s major cities.
The German air taxi company Volocopter developed the first fully electronic vertical take-off vehicle that flies autonomously and is accordingly ideally suited for use in urban areas. World premiere held in Dubai City in 2017: the Volocopter takes off on a test flight under the harshest climatic conditions. Ground-based vertiport infrastructure is critical to the success of future urban air mobility (UAM), including air taxi operations in congested cities.
In cooperation with GRAFT Architects and Arup, Berlin agency GRAFT Brandlab won the Volocopter international tender to produce the Volo-Port design. Construction of the first Volo-Port will be completed later this year. The partners plan to build it in Singapore for the scheduled public flight trials in the second half of 2019.
The interior design concept of the Volo-Ports combines lounge, security and departure areas with a hydraulic landing platform that makes it possible to board the Volocopters sheltered from the weather. The result is a flowing space that carefully orchestrates the passengers’ experience and contributes to promoting acceptance of three-dimensional passenger transport. The air taxis depart from the roof of the Volo-Port or from a landing platform off to one side, depending on the specific situation.
The modular Volo-Ports make it possible to seamlessly integrate this new form of passenger transport into existing urban infrastructure. Possible implementation scenarios include railway stations, airports and unused roof surfaces as well as floating Volo-Ports mounted on pontoons, utilizing the free air corridors over rivers and other water surfaces. With these new Volo-Ports, as they are called, Volocopter has made an important step towards a new form of urban mobility that is airborne and based on electric energy.
GRAFT Architects
