Skyportz To Test Full-Scale Vertiport Next Year

Skyportz and Dubai-based Foster Aviation are partnering to develop vertiports for eVTOL aircraft in the UAE. The companies announced the move this week, explaining that the new facilities will use Skyportz's patented Aeroberm technology, for which it is now taking advance orders and it will start testing at full-scale in 2027.

According to Australia-based Skyportz, its aircraft-agnostic vertiport design integrates fractal panel geometry into a landing surface, along with an optional ‘dunk tank’ that can be filled with water. These are intended to address vertiport challenges such as mitigating the impact of downwash and outwash from aircraft, as well as noise, and lithium-ion battery fires. 

With the system set to be formally unveiled at the Avalon Airshow in Australia next February, an initial full-scale prototype is currently under construction. Skyportz is now fabricating the mold for its proprietary fractal panels, which have been co-developed with Melbourne’s Swinburne University. 

“The core technology is locked in,” Skyportz CEO Clem Newton-Brown told AIN. “While there will still be some minor things to iron out in relation to making it work in a practical setting, the full-scale prototype is how we close those questions out,” he confirmed. 

After its public unveiling, the Aeroberm prototype—designed to be production-representative in geometry and materials—will start a test campaign, working with university partners to independently measure the results. This will involve calculating downwash, outwash, and noise, as well as comparing results against a solid landing surface. Skyportz is lining up test sites in Australia, China, India, the UAE, the UK and the U.S, including at least one eVTOL Integration Pilot Program site. 

According to Newton-Brown, the company intends to prioritize sites where eVTOL aircraft deemed to be closest to service entry are already being tested to help solve technical issues “and gather data that will help them sell more aircraft.” In November last year, Skyportz also announced that it would be making the design available for interested parties wishing to construct and build their own test-bed. Several partners have now expressed interest in hosting or building a pad.

Regulation and Manufacturing

Meanwhile, Skyportz continues to engage with the regulators responsible for vertiport design standards. “Our aim is for measured surface mitigation to be recognized in those standards, so that a pad which reduces outwash can operate with a smaller footprint,” Newton-Brown explained. 

However, while conversations with officials in Australia and the UK continue to run in parallel, “the FAA is the priority, because its forthcoming advisory circular on vertical flight infrastructure will set the benchmark that many other countries follow,” he suggested. 

Skyportz is currently taking advance orders for the Aeroberm infrastructure, which will be manufactured in Australia initially. It intends to offer its design under license for local manufacturing. “The panels suit established composite manufacturing processes, so we expect to produce them through licensed manufacturing partners in each major region,” Newton-Brown, said, adding that Skyportz will be able to scale output quickly if demand is forthcoming.