“… Urban-Air Port and Urban Air Mobility Division of Hyundai Motor Group announce plans to develop 65 electric urban-air ports worldwide to make clean urban air travel a reality.

·   World’s first electric urban-air port – ‘Air-One’ – to open in Coventry, UK, in early 2022 – the first of more than 200 sites being developed by Urban-Air Port in the next five years to meet global demand.

·  Deal represents major vote of confidence in the UK as one of the world’s fastest growing clean tech centres.

UK start-up Urban-Air Port has announced plans with the Urban Air Mobility Division of Hyundai Motor Group to develop 65 electric urban-air ports worldwide to meet the growing demand for autonomous airborne drones and electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) passenger vehicles. The partnership aims to establish a global network of urban-air ports and provide the essential infrastructure to unlock clean urban air mobility worldwide. The partnership forms a key part of Urban-Air Port’s plan to build 200 sites globally in the next five years.

Investment in the urban air mobility industry has exploded this year, with $4.7 billion USD announced for the development of eVTOL vehicles.^[i] Companies including Joby Aviation^[ii], Archer Aviation, Lilium and Vertical Aerospace have all announced SPAC (Special-Purpose Acquisition Company) investments to bring eVTOLs to market within the decade and the industry is forecast to hit $1 trillion USD in the next 20 years.^[iii]

However, the lack of infrastructure to support these vehicles is a major block on market growth, with experts at NASA saying infrastructure constraints will create a significant barrier to urban air mobility in the near term^[iv]. Despite this, only 3% of the investment so far this year ($150m USD) is in the physical infrastructure.^[v]