Australian vertiport developer Skyportz welcomed the announcement today that the leading electric air taxi, Joby, will apply to certify its aircraft in Australia for commercial operations.

Melbourne was tagged for early air taxi operations by Uber Elevate five years ago when it added the city to Dallas and LA for proposed launch services. Joby was one of the aircraft proposed at this time, but Uber Elevate withdrew from the industry shortly after.

“In Australia there is strong policy support for the development of Advanced Air Mobility from our safety regulator, CASA, our Federal and State Governments”, said Clem Newton-Brown, CEO of Skyportz.

“What we have been missing since the departure of Uber Elevate is a serious commitment from any of the leading electric air taxi operators to enter our market, through local certification.  This announcement by industry leader, Joby, is very exciting for the emerging local ecosystem”.

Skyportz aims to break the nexus between aviation and airports and enable commercial and industrial property developers to host vertiports. Over 400 property sites have expressed an interest in hosting a vertiport in Australia.

“With this announcement today, we could see Joby aircraft commence operations in Australia from our Skyportz sites in the foreseeable future”, said Newton-Brown.

“This policy announcement is a green light for the property development industry to start planning for this revolution in the way we move people”, said Newton-Brown.

“The 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 interest from the property industry is rapidly building – we envisage that those developments with vertiports will attract higher rents as businesses demand to have air taxi services for customers”, said Newton-Brown

The Australian air regulator, CASA also recently released vertiport guidelines, signalling a commitment to facilitate Advanced Air Mobility in Australia.

The CASA guidelines envisage that new vertiports will exclude helicopters to assist with developing community support for Advanced Air Mobility;

“This will give the AAM industry an opportunity to demonstrate to the community that a vertiport (catering only for air taxis) may be more desirable than a heliport. If communities are going to accept AAM as an industry, then gaining this ‘social licence’ is vitally important. With the guidance for vertiports clearly excluding the use of helicopters then we hope that local councils and communities will be more accepting to AAM in their localities”.