Four airports in Italy and France have set up a joint venture called Urban Blue to develop infrastructure to support urban air mobility (UAM) operations. The company, established by Aeroporti di Roma, Aeroporto di Venezia, Aeroports de la Cote d’Azur, and Aeroporto Guglielmo Marconi di Bologna, will study, design, build, and manage vertiports in various geographic areas to promote intra-city mobility with eVTOL aircraft.
Calling UAM “one of the most promising forms of innovative and sustainable mobility for the coming years,” the partners see the industry’s market value in Europe alone growing to €4 billion ($4.6 billion) by 2030. Urban Blue claims to be the only player active in the UAM segment with "strong integrated skills in master-planning and infrastructure management for commercial and general aviation and helicopters." However, in France, airports group Aeroports de Paris is already engaged in a project to develop UAM infrastructure for the French capital in time for the 2024 Olympic Games.
The Urban Blue team will build on the industrial partnership started in 2020 with eVTOL aircraft developer Volocopter. The German company aims to achieve type certification for its two-seat Volocopter vehicle by 2024.
The venture's initial network of vertiports anticipates the start of operations by 2024 in Nice, France; and Rome and Venice, Italy. In an initial phase, Urban Blue will carry out technical-economic feasibility studies and master plans in coordination with all the stakeholders.
“Indeed, these urban areas already have a high market potential as world interest destinations, in addition to presenting elements particularly suitable for the first developments of this form of mobility, such as favorable weather conditions (which increases the operability of aircraft eVTOL) and flat or coastal surroundings,” said the group in a joint statement.
