World’s First Airport For Flying Cars Spreads Its Wings In The UK

Image via Urban-Air Port

With electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles moving into the horizon, flying cars, air taxis, and delivery drones have got to find a place to park.

Luckily, engineers are already working to ensure road hogs don’t repeat their offenses with winged cars. UK developer Urban-Air Port has opened the world’s first airport for eVTOLs. Called Air-One, the facility will serve as a hub for passenger air taxis, autonomous delivery drones, disaster emergency aid, and defense operations teams.

Air-One, which is funded by the UK government, isn’t fully functioning yet. It’s currently stationed in Coventry, England, where it will stay for at least a month to demonstrate how air mobility vehicles can successfully reduce air pollution and congestion, paving the way for an emission-free future of flying transportation.

When it leaves Coventry, Air-One will be transported to other sites locally and internationally for further piloting. The first-of-a-kind hub will serve as a blueprint for over 200 “vertiports” being planned around the world, including the West Midlands, London, Los Angeles, Australia, South Korea, France, Germany, Scandinavia, and Southeast Asia.

Image via Urban-Air Port

There are no official lounges or coffee shops, at least for now. Instead, the airport offers essentials like eVTOL-charging facilities, command and control, and cargo loading areas.

“The opening of Air-One is a momentous moment—the starting gun for a new age of transport, an age of zero-emission, congestion-free travel between and within cities that will make people healthier, happier, and more connected than ever before,” describes Urban Air-Port’s founder Ricky Sandhu in a statement.

“Cars have roads. Trains have rails. Planes have airports. Now, eVTOLs have an Urban-Air Port.”

[via Robb Report and Aviation24.be, images via Urban-Air Port]