Skyports has signed an agreement to develop the UK’s first demonstration airport, at Bicester Motion, Oxfordshire, on a 1.8 square kilometre site dedicated to Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) testing.
The new vertical airport will be a key facility for testing ground infrastructure and flight operations and will play a key role in enabling the next generation of low-noise electric aviation in the UK. It will include:
- A compact station to showcase the efficient nature of the infrastructure and highlight the ability to integrate into the urban landscape, where space is at a premium, facilitating the rapid flow of passengers;
- Passenger processing facilities, which will include access control gates, enhanced weight and balance, identity verification, verification and screening. The addition of a passenger lounge will provide a comprehensive customer experience;
- The operations room is equipped with Skyports’ Vertiport Automation System (VAS) technology suite, which will feature a dedicated resource management and scheduling module to enable high-productivity, non-aircraft operations;
- Situational Awareness Unit to provide visualization tools for comprehensive airspace and vertical airport surveillance.
The vertical airport, which is being developed alongside Bicester Motion’s existing general aviation runways, will be developed as part of the Advanced Mobility Ecosystem Consortium and supported by Innovate UK’s Future Aviation Challenge.
The framework will serve as the initial planning and demonstrations, as well as the wider Etihad test programme and public and stakeholder engagement. This will include Vertical Aerospace, a company developing an eVTOL aircraft, and will use the space to conduct test flights and test key procedures ahead of commercial launch.
The UK vertical port design, which has been submitted to Cherwell County Council, has been inspired by Skyports testbeds in Paris and California. Skyports aims to open its UK airport by the end of 2024.
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