Officials in Brisbane are including eVTOL air taxi services in the public transportation options it aims to offer visitors to the Olympic Games the Australian city will host in 2032. In a report published on August 28, the Brisbane City Council spells out its ambitions for the event to serve as a showcase for urban air mobility services.
The city is looking to partner with Queensland state authorities and Australia’s federal government to deliver improvements to infrastructure to support mass transit, active transport, and access for people of all ages and abilities. Options for introducing eVTOL aircraft are being considered as part of Brisbane’s Future Transport Network Program, which is also expected to include a suburban transport management system managed by artificial intelligence.
The report by the Brisbane City Council called for projects to be prioritized by December and backed by state and federal funding commitments by February 2025. Plans will be updated by March 2025 once the venues to be used for the Olympic Games are finalized. Brisbane’s mayor Adrian Schrinner said he views the event as “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to upgrade the city’s transportation network.
“Brisbane is well suited for waterfront vertistops co-located with ferry terminals, as the river wraps around the central business district,” said Clem Newton-Brown, CEO of advanced air mobility infrastructure developer Skyportz. “But they are also going to need suburban vertistops stretching from the Sunshine Coast to the Gold Coast and into the hinterland.”
This summer’s Paris Olympic Games included a flight demonstration by eVTOL aircraft developer Volocopter. However, the company was not able to secure the approvals it needed to meet its main objective of being able to operate passenger-carrying flights during the event.
In the U.S., the FAA, city officials, and several private sector stakeholders, including eVTOL aircraft developer Archer Aviation, are backing plans for eVTOL air taxi services to be available during the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.