On February 11th, 2023, the Dubai Government Media Office announced the signing of an agreement between the country’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) and the General Civil Aviation Authority, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Joby Aviation, “the world leader in aerial taxi development,” and Skyports Infrastructure, “the leading vertiport infrastructure provider”. Under the agreement, Joby Aviation undertook to provide “an aerial ridesharing service,” while Skyports was granted “the exclusive rights to design, construct and operate a network of vertiports.”
The following day, 12th February, the same news agency reported that Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai, accompanied by Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai, approved “the models of aerial taxi vertiports” that the RTA had developed. For his part, Mattar Al Tayer, Director General and Chairman of the Board of Directors of RTA, assured that “the initial network of vertiports” would connect four main areas of Dubai, namely: the centre, around the Burj Khalifa, the Marina area, Dubai International Airport and the Palm Jumeirah archipelago.
Finally, on November 12th (2024), almost two years later, the same official media announced that the Crown Prince of Dubai had given the green light to the construction of what will be the city’s first vertiport, when it is completed in the first quarter of 2026, according to forecasts. “We commenced construction on Dubai’s first aerial taxi vertiport near Dubai International Airport,” the prince himself stated in a post on social media, adding: “with a surface area of 3,100 m2, it will have capacity for 42,000 landings and 170,000 passengers per year.”
The infrastructure will have general-use runways, facilities for recharging electric aircraft and a specific platform for air taxis. The project also has an adjacent area with several parking floors. When its construction has been verified, Dubai will become the first city in the world with a commercial electric air taxi service and a network of vertiports.
To find out more and get a visual idea of the project, we echo the video published by The National newspaper:
Source and images: Government of Dubai Media Office.
