Australian vertiport developer Skyportz today welcomed the release of the final Advanced Air Mobility Action Plan for the State of Victoria, Australia. Melbourne was tagged for early air taxi operations by Uber Air five years ago when it added the city to Dallas and LA for proposed launch services.
“The Australian Advanced Air Mobility industry has been waiting for some Government policy leadership on vertiport land use planning to kick start things, so we welcome today’s release from the Victorian Government”, said Clem Newton-Brown, CEO of Skyportz.
The policy document states that in the next year the Department of Transport and Planning will “develop and publish initial guidance material to support assessment of early vertiport applications under the existing Victorian regulatory framework”. This will be followed in 2026 with a “review and update (as required) of specific land use and development regulation to support a coordinated approach to vertiport planning infrastructure”.
The Department of Transport and Planning will also “explore opportunities to embed Advanced Air Mobility and zero emission aviation technology in future Victorian transport, precinct development and freight related policy, strategy and frameworks”.
“This policy announcement is a green light for the property development industry to start planning for this revolution in the way we move people and goods”’ said Newton-Brown. “The vertiport infrastructure is the missing piece of the puzzle for this industry. Without new vertiport landing sites in places people want to go, the aircraft will never fulfil their potential”.
Skyportz aims to break the nexus between aviation and airports and enable commercial and industrial property developers to host vertiports. Over 400 property sites have expressed an interest in hosting a vertiport in Australia. “The interest from the property industry is rapidly building - we envisage that those developments with vertiports will attract higher rents as businesses demand to have drone freight and air taxi services for customers”, said Newton-Brown
The Australian air regulator, CASA also recently released vertiport guidelines, signalling a commitment to facilitate Advanced Air Mobility in Australia. The CASA guidelines envisage that new vertiports will exclude helicopters to assist with developing community support for Advanced Air Mobility;
“This will give the AAM industry an opportunity to demonstrate to the community that a vertiport (catering only for air taxis) may be more desirable than a heliport. If communities are going to accept AAM as an industry, then gaining this ‘social licence’ is vitally important. With the guidance for vertiports clearly excluding the use of helicopters then we hope that local councils and communities will be more accepting to AAM in their localities”.
