With electric air taxi services on the horizon, operators are already flying in to secure landing sites in Los Angeles. Traffic-dodging aerial hops across big cities could happen as soon as next year, pending approval by the Federal Aviation Administration, and one of the country\u2019s largest operators of airplane and helicopter landing sites is now on the hunt for L.A. locations that can handle the comings and goings of air taxis.<\/p>\n
The vertiports, as they are called, might be built on open land next to an airport or university, or also on a parking garage or other building rooftop in downtown areas, said Kevin Cox, chief executive of VertiPorts by Atlantic. The company wants to build the infrastructure needed to integrate air travel into congested urban centers as an alternative to stop-and-go car trips.<\/p>\n
In its search for vertiports, the company is looking for busy surface routes \u201cwhere it should take 30 minutes to get from point A to point B, but it takes an hour and a half,\u201d Cox said. \u201cSouthern California area has got a lot of challenges in terms of congestion on the roadway,\u201d he said.
\nCleo Sinnott, 3, left, and her sister Maja, 2, from Sydney, Australia, visit with a flying taxi created by Joby Aviation at the Grove in the Fairfax District in Los Angeles last year.
\n(Genaro Molina \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
California has several startups working on electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, which were designed to bring the benefits of helicopter travel to the masses, with a significantly lower noise level than conventional helicopters, a highly anticipated technological advancement for many.<\/p>\n
LA28, the committee charged with planning L.A.\u2019s third Summer Games, is partnering with San Jos\u00e9-based aerospace company Archer Aviation to assemble a fleet of electric air taxis designed in the hope of diverting even a tiny slice of Olympics traffic to the sky, Archer said in May. Archer hopes its air taxis will offer 10- to 20-minute flights using a network of vertiports throughout the city, including at SoFi Stadium, LAX and other hubs from Santa Monica to Orange County.<\/p>\n
Cox declined to specify potential vertiport locations the company is considering in Southern California for competitive reasons. Still, he expects \u201ctwo or three dozen scattered around the market that will truly transform how people move through and between cities.\u201d Ideal locations would be in urban centers where there are clusters of offices and stores in close proximity to dense residential neighborhoods, all surrounded by heavy traffic year-round. The Los Angeles region has several busy centers that fit that description, such as Santa Monica, downtown L.A. and Culver City.<\/p>\n
Vertiports by Atlantic has hired real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield to find sites to lease in some of the nation\u2019s largest markets, including California, New York, New Jersey and Florida. Targets include the Greater Los Angeles area, the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City and its outer boroughs, Long Island, Newark, Broward and Miami-Dade counties, Orlando and Tampa. The company plans to start securing sites by the end of the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cBasically, we\u2019re trying to find the bus stops for flying taxis,\u201d commercial property broker Mike Condon Jr. said. \u201cThis is George Jetson-esque. This is the future here, now.\u201d The flying cars of \u201cThe Jetsons,\u201d a futuristic animated sitcom that enchanted television audiences in the early 1960s, are \u201cnot a bad analogy,\u201d Cox said. However, the taxis will be flown by professional pilots instead of heads of households like George Jetson. \u201cIt\u2019s that kind of leap in technology.\u201d<\/p>\n
That also means cities haven\u2019t got regulations on the books about how they can be used. \u201cThe real challenge for these is getting local land use entitlements,\u201d Condon said. \u201cThere\u2019s nowhere in zoning codes that says how flying taxis can take off.\u201d
\nArtist rendering of a flying taxi landing site.
\n(VertiPorts by Atlantic)<\/p>\n
VertiPorts by Atlantic is a subsidiary of Atlantic Aviation, which already operates a network of private plane terminals at airports that could also be used by eVTOLs. It has more than 100 locations in North America, including at Los Angeles International Airport and airports in Santa Monica, Burbank and Long Beach. \u201cWe expect a lot of travel will start from those,\u201d Condon said. \u201cLeave from the airport and don\u2019t fight traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n
The hunt for flying taxi landing sites is on, and it’s expected to transform the way people move through and between cities. With the rise of electric air taxi services, the need for vertiports is becoming increasingly important. As the industry continues to grow, we can expect to see more and more vertiports popping up in urban centers, providing a convenient and efficient way to travel.<\/p>\n
Vertiports are landing sites for flying taxis, which are designed to handle the comings and goings of air taxis in urban centers.<\/p>\n
Vertiports will be used as a network of landing sites for flying taxis, allowing people to travel quickly and efficiently across cities.<\/p>\n
The benefits of vertiports include reducing traffic congestion, providing a convenient and efficient way to travel, and transforming the way people move through and between cities.<\/p>\n
The regulatory challenges facing vertiports include getting local land use entitlements and navigating zoning codes that do not currently account for flying taxis.<\/p>\n
We can expect to see vertiports in operation as soon as next year, pending approval by the Federal Aviation Administration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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