Photo credit: DGAC and HM.
Are you familiar with the concept of a vertiport, an area designed for the takeoff and landing of VTOL aircraft or their exclusively electric version, eVTOLs? The latest issue of the civil aviation magazine, dated January 2023, presents an experimental vertiport installed at Pontoise airport in the Paris region.
Already in test
This vertiport was developed by the American company Skyports, in collaboration with the Aéroports de Paris(ADP) group. It groups together the infrastructures and services linked to eVTOLs, with a hangar, take-off and landing zones, and boarding control zones, all concentrated on 115 m2. For its inauguration, the vertiport hosted a Volocopter prototype.
J.O., rescue...
The various players involved in the experiments in Pontoise aim to be ready for flights in 2024, on the occasion of the Olympic Games. Eventually, five vertiports will allow passenger flights between the airports and Paris itself. The Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris (APHP) will take advantage of the effective launch of the service during the Olympic Games to evaluate the use of eVTOLs for the transport of patients, biological material and emergency teams.
Vertiports, French version ?
Photo credit: Airnova and HM.
The French startup Airnova is working on the Vertiport network, platforms designed to accommodate eVTOL flights.
The principle?
This network will constitute a " network of vertiports [that] will allow the transport of people and parcels over cities, over distances of 10 to 30 km in urban areas and 50 to 300 km in suburban and rural areas. Does the concept still seem a little abstract and distant? The approach of the 2024 Olympic Games will undoubtedly change the perception of intercity flights with VTOLs. Airnova unveiled on its Linkedin account a poster that warns of the presence of flying machines, as we will soon see... It's already tomorrow!
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