Australia’s aviation regulator, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has published a set of guidelines for vertiport design
The guidelines have been issued as an advisory circular following a consultation that ran from November 2022 to March 2023. They cover the planning and physical design of vertiports for piloted eVTOL aircraft in visual conditions only from site selection including downwash protection, physical characteristics, obstacle limitation surfaces and visuals aids including markings, markers and lights.
Melbourne, Australia vertiport developer Skyportz welcomed the guidance.
CEO and founder of Skyportz Clem Newton-Brown said, “This is a great step forward for Australia and shows our preparedness to welcome this new industry into Australian skies,” said vertiport infrastructure developer,
“There is no doubt the aircraft are coming. However, the potential for this industry will only be achieved if we break the nexus between aviation and airports and enable a new class of land use to emerge, giving property owners the opportunity to host electric air taxi vertiports”.
Skyportz plans to build a network of vertiports in Australia and says it has many hundreds of enthusiastic property partners and potential sites. It added that the CASA document will provide more clarity on the development of sites for vertiport uses and will allow corporate-branded vertiports, enabling companies to develop operational networks.
“We look forward to welcoming air taxi developers to Australia to operate from our network of Skyportz vertiports in the future,” added Newton-Brown.
