Pascall+Watson led the design and development of the world’s first commercial passenger vertiport for electric (eVTOL) aviation. This will be the first commercial facility to be built by Skyports and is to be operational by the end of 2025. It includes carparking to provide non-aeronautical revenue, five vehicle stands and a single FATO in the first phase, potentially expanding to two FATOs in the second phase. It is designed to be the first facility in a network of four vertiports in Dubai with further vertiport nodes to come. It is sponsored by Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority (RTA) and was given Royal Ascent in 2023.

P+W have brought their critical knowledge in both traditional commercial terminal design and a new way of thinking about AAM facilities that was born of earlier projects and research. Areas of focus for the Dubai Vertiport project have included: the refinement of complex multi-disciplinary requirements, integration of both user-specific and agnostic charging facilities, development of fire and life safety measures in what is a new type of facility, smooth and friction-free customer transition to optimise the basic proposition of speed that feeds the urban AAM need case, as well as value engineering for a building and accommodation that meet all requirements whilst respecting tight financial constraints.