UK. The opening event for Air-One, the world-first fully-operational hub for electric flying taxis and drones, recently took place in Coventry, UK, running from 25 April to 15 May. A collection of well-known brands, including a number active in travel retail, were involved as sponsors of Urban-Air Port’s pioneering vertiport infrastructure.
Our Senior Business Editor Mark Lane attended the opening days of the event and spoke to some of the brands to find out why they are getting onboard with the new age of environmentally-friendly travel.
Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and drone infrastructure developer Urban-Air Port (UAP) made an early decision to put the future generation of non-aeronautical revenues at the heart of its thinking and overall business case.
That commitment appears to have paid off, judging by the level of interest among, and investments made by, brands for the three-week event which introduced Air-One to the world. Up to 1,200 VIPs and members of the public a day attended across the event’s duration, as the ground-breaking vertiport attracted global media attention.
This gave notable exposure to the brands involved inside Air-One’s 4,300sq ft lounge via digital advertising installations, pop-up retail spaces and an impressive café. There were also demonstrations of drones carrying clothing and alcohol brands, as well as numerous VIP and UAP partner events offering high brand visibility across the opening weeks.
UAP claims that its vertiports – of which 200 are already planned for the next five years, with more expected to be confirmed soon – will host up to 28 million passengers by 2027. The potential scale of this stage as a showcase for brands and UAP’s planned development of an associated ecommerce app (known as Urban-Air Choice) make a compelling case for brand patronage.
This attraction is coupled with the smaller carbon footprint nature of the UAM industry compared to other forms of travel and its prospects for reducing congestion across cities, cutting air pollution and decarbonising transport. In a world where sustainability has come to the fore, that’s a powerful draw for brands of many different types.
These are among the reasons why Anatomie, Bottega, Compass Eurest, LG Business Solutions, Mother, Paul & Shark, LG Electronics, Nestlé, Rituals and Henkell Freixenet have already closely associated themselves with UAP, starting with a physical presence at the Air-One launch.
A number of those brands sat down with The Moodie Davitt Report during the opening days of the event. They shared insights into how and why they got involved with UAP and gave their thoughts on the potential of the UAM industry.
The close involvement in Air-One of wellbeing brand Rituals, which as a B Corp has had a high profile on matters of sustainability in recent times, comes as no surprise given the environmentally-friendly credentials of UAM travel.
Rituals Global Travel Retail Director Melvin Broekaart first became aware of the UAM industry after contact from UAP Chief Retail Officer Keith Hunter. They arranged to meet at the Tax Free World Association (TFWA) event in Cannes last October and Broekaart says he quickly bought into the concept.
“One of the good things about exhibitions is that you are open to new ideas, and this is one that commanded my attention straight away. Keith presented Urban-Air Port’s plans and it’s amazing to see that come to life here at Air-One just seven months on,” he told The Moodie Davitt Report.
Rituals’ early interest eventually manifested itself with the brand supplying goodie bags to Air-One VIP guests and Rituals diffuser scents being pumped into the Air-One lounge on the opening day. There was also a strong brand presence on digital installations across the vertiport.
Of his experience at the Air-One event, Broekaart said: “It has really given me a feel for how this could fit into the customer journey of the future. It was fascinating to chat with lots of people here about the prospects for this industry and its potential to provide an additional revenue stream for brands.”
On the subject of supporting UAP, he said: “The core reason [for sponsorship] is that at Rituals we take sustainability very seriously and what we see here is a very serious way to think about a sustainable future for flying. Initiatives like these need a bit of support, especially in the beginning, to help them get off the ground.
“As a brand, I can see us being involved in this industry for the long haul because I think we would like to be closely associated with bringing sustainable travel to life.”
Henkell Freixenet, the world’s leading sparkling wine group and another company with strong sustainability credentials, was also a sponsor at Air-One. Its wines were served to VIP guests at numerous events across the launch period and were prominently displayed in the Urban-Air Café.
The wine company was represented at Air-One by its Head of Sales Global Travel Retail, Christian Witte, who was also introduced to UAP by Hunter at TFWA Cannes.
Asked for his impressions of what has been achieved to get Air-One ready for launch, Witte said: “I think it’s incredible what they have done. Urban-Air Port has got many great people together, and I am astonished by what they have delivered in 11 months.”
He added: “I think it’s a very interesting concept in terms of reducing carbon footprint and gives us a glimpse of how we might travel in the future. Right now, we are seeing so many big changes in the world. I think [as a brand] you have to be ahead of the time and take a look at what’s the next big thing. This could be it.
“We’re happy to be here at the beginning and learn from it. This might well add up to completely new opportunities for our brand. I can certainly imagine us being involved in more vertiports – there are a lot of options.”
One of the most enthusiastic supporters of UAP we have encountered so far is Kate Boyer, CEO of travel fashion brand Anatomie. Of the brands, Boyer’s had the biggest physical presence at Air-One with a large pop-up clothing display.
Reflecting on what she had seen at Air-One at the end of the opening day, Boyer told us: “Entering this is kind of like a step into the future. It made me realise the complexity of executing this project. It has so many moving parts to it – it’s like a big puzzle.
“Urban Air-Port is made up of an amazing group of smart people, pulling in talent from many different industry disciplines, and it’s fantastic to meet them in person here. People dealing with government regulations, the communications team, the construction experts, the industrial designers and so on. The magnitude of the collaboration is something to behold.”
Of her striking brand display at the event, Boyer said: “This is my working prototype for airport travel retail, which will be seen with our first standalone airport shop, soon to open at Venice Airport.”
Boyer said she sees many synergies between her brand and UAP, not least in terms of its environmental credentials, a subject about which she has previously spoken to The Moodie Davitt Report.
“Our approach to sustainability is 360-degrees, just like Urban-Air Port,” she said. “We can see here at Air-One first hand the infrastructure they are working on to enable light, quick, eco-friendly transportation.
“That is a very close match for what we do as a brand. It’s clear we have very similar thinking about the future of travel and how modern retail could combine with that.”
Like Anatomie, the environmentally-friendly nature of the UAM travel was a big draw card for Paul&Shark to become an Air-One sponsor, appearing in the lounge with an eye-catching clothing display.
The Italian fashion brand had been quick to declare its support after CEO & President Andrea Dini and Worldwide Travel Retail Director Silvia Santin also met with Keith Hunter in Cannes last October.
Speaking to The Moodie Davitt Report at Air-One, Santin explained in detail Paul&Shark’s approach to sustainability. This includes a particular focus on the use of fabrics created with polymers regenerated from marine waste, the lowering of CO2 emissions associated with water and reducing microplastic discharges from synthetic fibres.
Santin said: “I think because of Urban-Air Port’s similar commitment to sustainability in the new age of travel, Mr. Dini immediately embraced the project. We think this [the UAM industry] could be a big part of future plans for Paul&Shark. Sustainability is central to this industry – we share the mission of zero impact on the planet with the visionary people of Urban-Air Port.”
She continued: “I admire how motivated the team at Urban-Air Port is, and we will certainly see many more vertiports like this around the world. Our commitment is to try to be a part as much as possible in their future projects.
“One of the most interesting aspects [of vertiports] from a retail point of view is the use of hybrid formulas between physical retail, engaging customers with technology [such as digital installations inside vertiports] and ecommerce [through the Urban-Air Choice app].
“That matches with many shoppers’ new habits which have been accelerated by the pandemic. I think that dovetails very well with what we are doing internally with our brand strategy.”
All of the brands which sponsored Air-One also had the excitement of seeing their products fly by drone with live demonstrations into and out of the vertiport. This highlighted the future possibilities of how goods will be moved with a zero-carbon footprint using vertiport-type infrastructures.
Among those companies was Italian wine producer Bottega, another sponsor drawn to Air-One by shared sustainability credentials. Bottega Chairman Sandro Bottega said: “The Urban-Air Port project is a leap into the future under the banner of sustainability. It is therefore with great pleasure that we participated with our wines in the inauguration events. Here’s to the success of this innovative form of mobility.”
Read our recent interview with Keith Hunter and UAP Chief Hospitality Officer Nick Goddard-Palmer on the retail and dining opportunities that will be enabled by Urban-Air Port here.
Read our live blog from the opening VIP days of the event here.
