SkyDrive to Showcase New Plane at Expo; Public Experiences Start Mid-Apri
A New Mobility Hub Opens in Osaka
All photos courtesy SkyDrive.
On March 28, 2025, Osaka Metro formally opened the OSAKAKO Vertiport, a brand new takeoff and touchdown website for electrical vertical takeoff and touchdown plane (eVTOLs). The vertiport, positioned at Chuo Pier in Osaka’s Minato Ward, was accomplished in time for Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai.
SkyDrive, a Japanese firm creating eVTOL plane, will use the power for demonstration flights in the course of the Expo. A ceremony marking the opening of the vertiport featured key officers, together with Osaka Metro President Hideaki Kawai and SkyDrive CEO Tomohiro Fukuzawa.
The brand new vertiport displays Osaka Metro’s efforts to broaden mobility choices within the metropolis. By its “e METRO” program, the corporate is working to combine new transportation strategies, together with eVTOL flights, into city journey.
SkyDrive and Osaka Metro Collaborate on Future Mobility
SkyDrive’s eVTOL plane, named “SKYDRIVE,” will fly demonstration routes between the Expo’s inside vertiport and the OSAKAKO Vertiport. These flights are a part of a broader effort to introduce air mobility to the general public and discover how eVTOLs can improve city transport.
SkyDrive CEO Tomohiro Fukuzawa famous the significance of this new step: “This can be a milestone in our journey to convey city air mobility nearer to on a regular basis life.”
In August 2024, Osaka Metro and SkyDrive signed a partnership settlement to help this shared aim. The Metropolis of Osaka chosen Osaka Metro to develop and function the vertiport following a aggressive public bid in January 2024.
Facility Particulars and Design
The OSAKAKO Vertiport covers roughly 12,000 sq. meters. It features a hangar for plane storage and upkeep, a passenger space for check-in and boarding, and a takeoff and touchdown pad. The positioning additionally capabilities as a mobility hub, linking eVTOL journey with different transport providers like shared bicycles and on-demand buses.
The passenger facility encompasses a simulation of the boarding course of, full with facial recognition check-in and a full-size mock-up of the SKYDRIVE plane.
Osaka Metro hopes the brand new facility will assist the general public perceive the time period “vertiport” and the idea of eVTOL journey.
“By the Expo 2025 program, Osaka Metro hopes to advertise wider recognition of the phrase ‘vertiport’ as a time period for describing an eVTOL takeoff and touchdown website,” mentioned the corporate.
Public Occasions Start in April
Beginning in mid-April 2025, the OSAKAKO Vertiport will host occasions open to the general public. These will embrace shows on eVTOL growth and interactive experiences. Guests can check out the boarding simulation and study extra about how eVTOLs work. Reservations will probably be accessible by Osaka Metro’s official web site.
Osaka Metro additionally plans to tie eVTOL-related actions to different occasions within the area. These outreach efforts intention to introduce the brand new expertise to a wider viewers.
Extra details about the occasions will be discovered at:
https://advanced-air-mobility.osakametro.co.jp/
Concerning the Companions
Osaka Metro operates 9 subway strains and the New Tram in central Osaka. The corporate focuses on offering protected and environment friendly transport whereas supporting the town’s development as a world vacation spot.
SkyDrive, headquartered in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, started eVTOL growth in 2014 and formally fashioned in 2018. The corporate goals “to take the lead within the once-in-a-century mobility revolution” and works with aviation authorities in Japan and the US to certify its plane. SkyDrive started manufacturing of its SKYDRIVE mannequin in 2024 in partnership with Suzuki Motor Company.
For extra about Osaka Metro: https://www.osakametro.co.jp/en/
For extra about SkyDrive: https://en.skydrive2020.com/
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Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, knowledgeable drone providers market, and a fascinated observer of the rising drone trade and the regulatory surroundings for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles centered on the industrial drone house and is a world speaker and acknowledged determine within the trade. Miriam has a level from the College of Chicago and over 20 years of expertise in excessive tech gross sales and advertising and marketing for brand spanking new applied sciences.
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