From Harry Potter to The Jetsons, flying cars have been staple features of science fiction blockbusters for years.
But with these futuristic vehicles rapidly getting closer to becoming a reality, a key question remains – where will they operate?
In the hopes of making air travel simpler, Skyports Infrastructure has revealed plans to build the UK’s first permanent ‘vertiport’.
The vertiport will be built in Bicester, Oxfordshire, starting this autumn and will serve as a base for electric air taxis.
Duncan Walker, chief executive of Skyports, said: ‘The tests and trials we conduct at this facility will be instrumental to the future of quiet, electric, vertical flight.’
In the hopes of making air travel simpler, Skyports Infrastructure has revealed plans to build the UK’s first permanent ‘vertiport’
While building won’t start until this autumn, concept images give a hint of what it might look like. Passengers waiting for their flying taxis to arrive will bide their time in a compact 160 square metre passenger terminal, with large windows looking out to the landing pad
The vertiport will be built at the 444-acre Bicester Motion estate in Bicester, following the approval of planning permission from Cherwell District Council.
While building won’t start until the autumn, concept images give us a hint at what it might look like.
Passengers waiting for their flying taxis to arrive will bide their time in a compact 160 square metre passenger terminal, with large windows looking out to the landing pad.
Outside, flying taxis will take-off and land vertically, meaning there’s no need for a long runway, and instead the landing pad is more compact.
In the renders, Vertical Aerospace’s latest VX4 prototype is featured, which will be the first electrical vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to fly at the vertiport.
The vertiport will be built in Bicester, Oxfordshire, starting this autumn and will serve as a base for electric air taxis
The vertiport will be built at the 444-acre Bicester Motion estate in Bicester, following the approval of planning permission from Cherwell District Council
The VX4 has enough space for a pilot plus four passengers, and can hit impressive speeds of up to 150mph, with a range of up to 100 miles.
According to Vertical Aerospace, it could transport passengers from Battersea to Heathrow in just 12 minutes in the future.
‘The Skyports vertiport is a critical piece of infrastructure, helping to get our VX4 aircraft up into the air and demonstrate to the world that the future of flight is electric,’ said Michael Cervenka, Chief Commercial & Technology Officer at Vertical Aerospace.
‘We’re excited to see what the vertiport will look like as we move into an important phase of the industry – making this real.
‘The tests we carry out here in Bicester with our VX4 will advance our understanding of electric aviation and revolutionise how we travel – paving the way for zero emissions, quiet flight.’
Pricing for the vertiport is yet to be disclosed, although Skyports recently secured €103 million in funding to build vertiports and accelerate its drone business.
The VX4 has enough space for a pilot plus four passengers, and can hit impressive speeds of up to 150mph, with a range of up to 100 miles
A Skyports spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘We are not sharing build cost estimates at this time.’
While this is the first permanent vertiport approved in the UK, it comes two years after a temporary vertiport dubbed Air-One opened in Coventry.
The 17,000 square-foot structure was outfitted into several ‘zones’, including a passenger lounge, cafe, retail pop-up, cargo logistics hub, electric and hydrogen air vehicle hangar, security screening, command and control centre.
Rather than having to trek to their gate as they would at an airport, passengers simply climbed a short flight of steps and were straight on the launch pad.
The rising central launch pad, which measured 56-feet in diameter, was the focal point of the vertiport.
Flying cars or flying taxis would be wheeled out while the launch pad was at ground level, allowing customers to comfortably board.
Once the flying taxi was ready to take to the skies, the entire launch pad then rose up 19ft using a synchronised link-lift system, allowing the eVTOL to take off more easily.