AUSTRALIA. Skyportz and Sea World Helicopters has launched a new partnership to prepare the ground for electrical vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, including air taxis, coming to the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia.
The alliance will look to take advantage of a network of potential vertiport sites being built up by Skyportz, as it pursues its aim of making the Gold Coast a leading area for the fast-advancing advanced/urban air mobility industry.
Sea World is a long-established operator of helicopter tours for tourists visiting the Gold Coast area and now becomes Skyportz’s operating partner for its vertiport network.
Skyportz CEO Clem Newton-Brown is Chair of the advanced air mobility working group of the Australian Association for Uncrewed Systems and also serves on the NASA working group and a Federal Government committee investigating new and emerging aviation technologies.
He told The Moodie Davitt Report: “Skyportz has been accumulating sites in Australia since 2018 and we now have over 400 property partners ready to build out a Skyportz network.
“Many of these are in Southern Queensland and we intend to explore opportunities to connect new vertiport sites with Olympic Games venues [coming to Brisbane in 2032] in partnership with local and State Government.”
“It is not going to be the technology which holds up the advance of electric air taxis. It is having enough operators and places to land which will be the impediments to limit the potential for advanced air mobility. Skyportz and Sea World Helicopters are focusing on these bottlenecks and creating the ecosystem to attract aircraft manufacturers that want to supply their aircraft to the Australian market.” – Skyportz CEO Clem Newton-Brown
He added: “The Sea World Helicopters partnership means we have an operational partner now on the Gold Coast to activate our vertiport network. We expect that by 2032 we should have a well-established electric air taxi service on the Gold Coast and around Brisbane if we get the support from all levels of government.”
Of the new partnership, Sea World Helicopters CEO John Orr-Campbell said: “We intend to be at the forefront of the industry as it morphs into cleaner and quieter electric propulsion.
“We have existing helicopter landing infrastructure on the Gold Coast which we can activate with electric eVTOL aircraft as soon as they become available. We can foresee that many of our tourist operations will be very well suited to electric aviation.”
Skyportz’s focus has been on securing access to a range of potential vertiport locations, starting with existing helipads – including those from which Sea World operates – and airports, and also suburban and urban locations such as business parks, shopping centres, car parking garages, industrial sites and greenfield city fringe developments.
The company said it also helping property developers to future proof their projects so they can offer access to air taxis and freight services as soon as they start operating in the Gold Coast area.
The establishment of the alliance with Sea World builds on a previous partnership announcement in Victoria between Skyportz and Microflite Helicopters, as well as with Secure Parking, operator of over 50 sites in the Gold Coast/Brisbane regions, which could potentially be activated as vertiports.
Newton-Brown continued: “There is no doubt we are headed for a revolution in micro-aviation. The aircraft are coming and there is support from the Federal Government as evidenced by the New and Emerging Aviation Technologies A$32 million grant fund.
“It is not going to be the technology which holds up the advance of electric air taxis. It is having enough operators and places to land which will be the impediments to limit the potential for advanced air mobility.
“Skyportz and Sea World Helicopters are focusing on these bottlenecks and creating the ecosystem to attract aircraft manufacturers that want to supply their aircraft to the Australian market.”
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said: “The Gold Coast has been built by an entrepreneurial spirit. We are proud of our past and are pushing hard to be seen as a city of innovation. I can see a place for Skyportz’s operations not only in our city but across the SEQ region.”
He added: “Between the major SEQ cities, more than three million people reside but equally, we attract in excess of 13 million annual visitors so the market is certainly there for innovative transport solutions like this.”
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