Skyportz Melbourne concept
Skyportz has inked orders totalling in excess of 1,000 units for its innovative modular vertipad solution. The orders come off the back of Farnborough International Airshow, where the vertiport developer had been showcasing its vertipad solution. The initial orders have come from an aircraft OEM and infrastructure investors.
The patented modular vertipad, which can be deployed on airport tarmacs or on new vertiport sites addresses a multitude of issues including passenger safety, downwash, outwash, battery fires, power generation, power storage, debris capture, noise, environmental impacts and insurance risks. The innovation design will enable operations from smaller footprints, offering a quantifiable benefit for both airports and property owners planning vertiports.
While the patented design is still being tweaked and therefore hasn’t been released publicly, Skyportz CEO Clem Newton-Brown said: “We have been happy to share the design with industry colleagues under Non-Disclosure Agreement and the response has been incredible. You can actually see the light bulbs going on as people realise we have cracked the nut of mass production of a vertipad product that is a vast improvement on a circle painted on a slab of concrete.”
Newton-Brown also revealed that with its product, customers will be able to establish operations safely on tighter sites or on larger sites and fit more landing pads. “Profitable operations are going to need low capital costs and high throughput,” he said. “You can do the sums on any site to calculate the capex savings utilising our product.”
While the company is still offering its impressive terminal designs with Contreras Earl Architecutre, this latest vertipad solution offers an entry level package enabling Skyportz to break the nexus between aviation and airports with their property partners.
“The mass vertiport infrastructure is the missing piece of the puzzle for this industry. Without new vertiport landing sites in places people want to go, the aircraft will never fulfil their potential. The elephant in the room is that no-one wants to pay millions of dollars for each vertiport. We have got the message and responded with this patent,” concluded Newton-Brown.
