Skyportz and electric aircraft charger manufacturer Electro.Aero are to jointly develop a 'vertiport in a box', an affordable, modular, turn-key solution for smaller property sites wanting to join the advanced air mobility future.

Skyportz CEO Clem Newton-Brown says: “The focus in the industry to date has been on larger vertiports located at existing airports. This is the low hanging fruit that will form the essential backbone of an advanced air mobility ecosystem. However, if this industry is to reach its potential we need to break the nexus between aviation and airports and let private property owners develop their own vertiports.

“At Skyportz we are focusing on affordable options that property developers can incorporate right now into new developments, or retrofit into existing buildings. We will soon be releasing a beautiful tiny modular vertiport building that can be delivered to site in a shipping container and assembled without heavy equipment, complete with a high powered battery bank and charger with solar panels.”

The financials for vertiports requiring big investments do not stack up for now, with no aircraft yet certified and no immediate business model. With the Skyportz system they will be providing something of value from the moment of installation; the battery pack and solar panels can be hooked in to power the host building and the vertiport building can be used for other purposes while the world waits for eVTOL aircraft to get certified.

It is generally considered too soon to get approvals for vertiport uses from governments; the standards are still in development and nowhere in the world has any government set out the rules and regulations other than for display sites.

“Skyportz will be getting our network of vertiports and battery packs established now with enthusiastic property owners who will come back later for an aviation use permit. In the meantime they will have developed sustainable power storage and a vertiport building that could be used as a cafe or meeting room,” Newton-Brown continues.

Skyportz will announce further partners once its modular design is released later this year, including weather data, air traffic management systems, booking services and aviation operators.

“We will offer a complete solution for property owners to activate their sites for aviation. And as a modular, fully transportable system we will be able to supply any global market with our partners at Electro.Aero”, he says. “The key to this industry is breaking the nexus between aviation and existing airports. We need to develop a network of new vertiport sites if the industry is to reach its potential, and Skyportz is readying the landscape to partner with infrastructure investors.”

Electro.Aero is an Australia-based company specialising in battery charging and power storage to support electric aviation. Its systems will be suitable for all electric air taxis, with the added bonus of providing sustainable power to the host building.

"Electro.Aero is proud to be Skyportz's supplier of choice for electric aircraft charging infrastructure at its vertiports," says CEO Richard Charlton. “As the world leader in aircraft charging technology, Electro.Aero supplies high powered, mobile aircraft chargers suitable for heavy duty eVTOL and fixed wing operations. We also supply advanced containerised battery systems to power the chargers, ensuring rapid and consistent recharge times between sorties."