“…It’s the first time any government in the world has invested in eVTOL infrastructure, and it’s provided a huge boost confidence in the entire sector,” explained Sandhu, who is founder and executive chair at U.K.-based vertiport developer Urban-Air Port. “It’s now incumbent on us to take that seed and grow it.”

The “seed” money spent on this vertiport project is a successful example of how governments around the world can provide financial support for the development of eVTOL infrastructure, but there are certainly others.

No one expects that private industry won’t foot most of the global vertiport construction bill, but just what role governments should play in funding vertiports is “an excellent question,” said Rex Alexander, president and executive director at Indiana-based consultancy Five-Alpha, “and one that is being heavily debated at the federal, state and local levels in the U.S. right now…”