Designing the first technically complete vertiport for Dubai’s planned air taxi network
At a glance
Dubai is planning an air taxi network that will need a new kind of transport infrastructure. Each vertiport must support electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and operational systems, while connecting passengers to the city’s wider transport network. As lead design consultant to Skyports, we developed the design for the vertiport at Dubai International Airport. It is the first location in the planned network to reach technical completion.
The challenge
Skyports needed a purpose-built vertiport at Dubai International Airport to support its planned air taxi services. As the first location in a wider network, the design needed to establish an approach that could inform the sites to follow.
The design needed to bring together aircraft takeoff, landing and charging infrastructure, passenger processing and accommodation, flight operations and back-of-house functions, vehicle access and public transport connections. The vertiport also needed to accommodate high-volume operations within a dense urban setting.
Technical completion is the first milestone, with further operational-readiness stages needed before commercial services begin.
Our response
We designed the vertiport to be part of the passenger journey, connecting aircarfat operations with the spaces passengers and operational teams will use each day.
With a footprint of more than 3,000 m2, the four-floor facility brings together:
- Two dedicated eVTOL areas with charging facilities
- Passenger accommodation, processing areas, flight-operation spaces and back-of-house functions
- A multi-storey car park and access to the Emirates Metro Station for passengers to continue their journey through Dubai.
We designed the facility to accommodate up to 170,000 passengers and 42,000 aircraft movements each year. The concept also considered its place within the planned network, which includes further locations at Dubai Marina, Dubai Mall and Palm Jumeirah.
The impact
Reaching technical completion gives Skyports a developed design for the first location in its planned Dubai network. The facility brings landing, charging, passenger and operational requirements together within one asset, while connecting to other modes of transport.
The design also provides a reference point for the other locations planned across Dubai. Each site will have its own context, but the completed design shows how aircraft operations and passenger movement can work within one connected facility.
The next steps will focus on operational readiness. Commercial operations, passenger volumes and the wider benefits of the network will depend on those stages as the project progresses.