Photo: Volatus Infrastructure
If you thought that the idea of taking an air taxi and flying above the road traffic without a care in the world still sounded impossible, we’ve got good news. A dedicated site for eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) aircraft, where they can charge, take off with passengers onboard and land, will be showing up in Pennsylvania before the end of this year.
How about ditching the U.S. 80 and State Route 322 that are typically used for driving to watch the Penn State games, and instead land in style, aboard a comfortable, cool-looking aircraft that’s also emission-free? This isn’t something that we’ve come up with, but the main inspiration for a trailblazing project – the first vertiport to be built in Pennsylvania.
The ones who plan to accomplish this great task are Volatus Infrastructure, who has developed an entire ecosystem for eVTOL operations, and the local Bellefonte Airport.
Very soon, everyone in the state will get to admire a state-of-the-art AAM (Advanced Air Mobility) site. Initially, the vertiport will offer just one landing pad with a charging station, but it’s designed to easily expand to eight landing pads (each with its own charging station) gradually, as demand continues to grow.
Volatus claims that its eVTOL hub takes only four weeks to build (once it gets regulatory approval) including the modular terminal building, a vehicle-agnostic charging station, and a landing pad. Plus, the Volatus App helps bring everything together, allowing the user to keep track of maintenance scheduling, landing availability, and charging data.
The charger that’s included in the Volatus Infrastructure hub can be used by all eVTOLs, regardless of the manufacturer, and comes with solar options in addition to the fast charging and power storage.
On the other hand, the Bellefonte Airport is also a great spot for building this type of AAM hub. It’s less than 100 miles (161 km) away from all major cities in the area, and it even played a pioneering role in aviation, when it became one of the first stops in the Airmail ecosystem.
It may start out small, with just one landing pad, but this upcoming vertiport has big dreams. Both Volatus and the Bellefonte Airport believe that it has the potential to become one of the major eVTOL hubs on the East Coast, once a wider AAM network is developed.
Similar projects are showing up all over the world. In Europe, Skyports is getting ready to inaugurate the first European vertiport, at an airfield in Cergy-Pontoise, France. This particular vertiport is set to start operating next year, in time for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
All the way in Dubai, VPorts plans to open a so-called Air Mobility Integrator, basically a fancy world center that will also act as a centralizing hub for multiple vertiports.
The ones who plan to accomplish this great task are Volatus Infrastructure, who has developed an entire ecosystem for eVTOL operations, and the local Bellefonte Airport.
Very soon, everyone in the state will get to admire a state-of-the-art AAM (Advanced Air Mobility) site. Initially, the vertiport will offer just one landing pad with a charging station, but it’s designed to easily expand to eight landing pads (each with its own charging station) gradually, as demand continues to grow.
Volatus claims that its eVTOL hub takes only four weeks to build (once it gets regulatory approval) including the modular terminal building, a vehicle-agnostic charging station, and a landing pad. Plus, the Volatus App helps bring everything together, allowing the user to keep track of maintenance scheduling, landing availability, and charging data.
The charger that’s included in the Volatus Infrastructure hub can be used by all eVTOLs, regardless of the manufacturer, and comes with solar options in addition to the fast charging and power storage.
On the other hand, the Bellefonte Airport is also a great spot for building this type of AAM hub. It’s less than 100 miles (161 km) away from all major cities in the area, and it even played a pioneering role in aviation, when it became one of the first stops in the Airmail ecosystem.
It may start out small, with just one landing pad, but this upcoming vertiport has big dreams. Both Volatus and the Bellefonte Airport believe that it has the potential to become one of the major eVTOL hubs on the East Coast, once a wider AAM network is developed.
Similar projects are showing up all over the world. In Europe, Skyports is getting ready to inaugurate the first European vertiport, at an airfield in Cergy-Pontoise, France. This particular vertiport is set to start operating next year, in time for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
All the way in Dubai, VPorts plans to open a so-called Air Mobility Integrator, basically a fancy world center that will also act as a centralizing hub for multiple vertiports.
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