Vertiports may soon become critical parts of urban or regional mobility ecosystems, using fast and convenient air travel to link airports, buses, trains and ride-hailing networks. They use electric Vertical Take Off and Landing aircraft (eVTOL) to facilitate movement of people and goods more rapidly and efficiently than traditional transport infrastructures, transporting passengers or cargo at lower altitudes within urban and suburban areas.
These eVTOL operations are also known as Urban Air Mobility or UAM operations.
The Latin American region has been considered suitable for urban air mobility development through eVTOLs because of the dense populations of cities such as São Paulo, Mexico City, Lima, Bogota and Buenos Aires.
Now, Advanced Air Mobility and Corporación América Airports (which operates 53 airports across Latin America) has signed an MOU to develop, design, and integrate a service and support ecosystem for eVTOL operations in Latin America.
The collaboration will involve developing vertiport networks and operations.
“We’re at an incredibly exciting point in the industry’s development as we take concrete steps towards implementing a scalable vertiport network that will facilitate commercial eVTOL operations…,” said Addison Ferrell, Director of Skyports Infrastructure, which develops and operates landing infrastructure for electric air taxis and drones.
The next five years will be decisive for the development of urban air mobility. Skyports is working with other megacities around the world, most notably in Los Angeles, where Uber has already declared it aims to be operational with air taxis by 2023.
