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and airspace management services. While Hub (MBRAH) to establish the world’s first AAM integrator world
SK Telecom has teamed up with US-based centre at Dubai South. The project, which has the approval of
Joby Aviation, Hanwha Systems and Korea the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), includes dedi-
Airports Corp., KT Corp., Hyundai Motors and cated flight-testing airspace and assigned blocked airspace. The
Hyundai Engineering & Construction have development and construction of the facility will start this year;
joined hands. Oil refiner GS Caltex and five operations and the first flight test are expected in 2024. Vertiport
companies in the telecom, mobility, and airline provider Kookiejar of Sweden (KOS) also has plans to establish
businesses have formed a consortium to take a vertiport in Dubai South in partnership with Dubai-based Air
part in the competition. Chateau. Menawhile, Abu Dhabi has signed an MoU with Groupe
ADP to help in the planning, design, development, and operation
Volatus Infrastructure, US-based developer of vertiport infrastructure.
of vertiports, has signed a partnership with
South Korean AAM aircraft developer Plana
to develop vertiports and other necessary Cautiously Optimistic
ground assets. In 2022, a UAM consortium “I’m not quite as bullish as some of the public statements around
led by SK Telecom and Hanwha Systems how quickly we can ramp up the system, but in the medium to
signed a contract with the Jeju Special Self- long term—ten years out—I’m actually quite bullish,” says Robin
Governing Province to launch an air taxi pilot Riedel, McKinsey expert. “I think this is a mode of transportation
programme. Elsewhere, Siemens is partnering that will eventually become quite frequently used. It will be safe,
up with California startup Skyway to research it will save many of us time, it will be sustainable—so there’s a
and develop electrical supplies and infrastruc- bright future to look forward to.”
ture needed to power vertiports.
People are ready for flying taxis, says Benedikt Kloss, fellow
McKinsey expert. “Across geographies, more than 15 to 20
Middle East Scene percent of survey respondents say they can definitely imagine
Dubai’s prototype vertiport design, which switching from their current mode of mobility to a flying-taxi
has been developed by UK-based Skyports service in the future. Passengers are spending more than $400
Infrastructure, has been approved. An ini- billion globally for taxi services every year. E-hailing is another
tial network of four vertiports will connect $100 billion on top of that. If you now imagine that flying taxis
Downtown Dubai, Dubai Marina, Dubai can capture some of this market share and become a real alter-
International Airport and Palm Jumeirah. The native to the taxi by 2030, the market opportunity is in the range
vertiport infrastructure has been designed to of several billion US dollars.”
integrate with existing transportation infra-
structure, including Dubai Metro services and While AAM can save customers time, industry players will have
Dubai International Airport. Each vertiport will to solve several “hassle factors” that favor journey by car, says
include four stands for aerial taxis and two a report by Ramya Mahalingam, Adam Mitchell and Riedel,
landing areas. McKinsey experts. As operators, infrastructure players, and other
ecosystem actors begin launching and scaling commercial AAM
Canadian aviation infrastructure company operations, they need to examine customer experience and
VPorts has signed a 25-year exclusive lease reduce the hassles of flying, or else the market may not emerge
with the Mohammed bin Rashid Aerospace and reach its full potential, the report adds.

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