Australian vertiport developer Skyportz released images for riverfront vertiport concepts on the Brisbane River at the annual Advanced Air Mobility summit on the Gold Coast.
With the Olympic Games set to be hosted by Brisbane in 2032, and strong support from all levels of government to develop Advanced Air Mobility, the region is shaping up as an Australian launch market for air taxis.
“At Skyportz we believe that the lowest hanging fruit for retrofitting vertiports into urban areas are natural aviation corridors such as rivers’, said CEO, Clem Newton-Brown.
“While there are a small number of cities around the world that have developed rooftop helipads, they are not the easiest places to safely land aircraft. There are usually better options, particularly in waterfront cities”.
Vertiport designs were produced with Contreras Earl Architecture, in collaboration with UK firms Pascall+Watson and Minmud.
Skyportz has been working with former Australian Scientist of the Year, Abdulghani Mohamed on wind and turbulence modelling in cities and trialling specific sites.
“We keep coming back to waterfront locations as being the safest and most logical place to instal new vertiports in large cities when it comes to turbulence”, said Newton-Brown.
In his presentation to the summit Newton Brown identified the following benefits of waterfront vertiports.
- Access to sites that are scarce in urban environments.
- Government leases rather than purchasing expensive land.
- Clear approach and departure paths above the water.
- Little chance of losing aviation corridors due to subsequent development.
- Less wind turbulence compared to central CBD.
- More predictable airflows.
Skyportz has been assembling the pieces of the Advanced Air Mobility puzzle in Australia for the last 5 years. Its focus is on breaking the nexus between aviation and airports and enabling property owners to activate their sites with vertiports.
The Australian air regulator, CASA, also released at the Australian Summit vertiport guidelines, signalling a commitment to facilitate Advanced Air Mobility in Australia.
The CASA guidelines envisage that new vertiports will exclude helicopters to assist with developing community support for Advanced Air Mobility.
This press release was prepared and distributed by Skyportz.
