Following the release of its vertipad patent at the Farnborough international Airshow last month, Australia-based Skyportz has reported three orders totalling in excess of 1,000 units to support the emerging air taxi industry.

The patented modular vertipad solution addresses a multitude of issues including passenger safety, downwash, outwash, battery fires, power generation, power storage, debris capture, noise, environmental impacts, insurance risks and more, all in an affordable package that can be placed on airport tarmacs or on new vertiport sites.

“The patented design has not been released publicly as we are still tweaking our prototype,” says CEO Clem Newton-Brown. “However, we have been happy to share the design with industry colleagues under non-disclosure agreements, and the response has been incredible. You can actually see the light bulbs going on as people realise we have cracked the nut of mass production of a vertipad product that is a vast improvement on a circle painted on a slab of concrete.”

Initial orders have come in from an aircraft OEM and infrastructure investors. The company expects that in addition to aviation, property and infrastructure investors it will be a supplier to other vertiport companies looking for a way to increase safety and comply with the performance-based standards of the air regulators.

The innovative design will enable operations from smaller footprints and that will have a significant and quantifiable benefit for both airports and property owners planning vertiports.

“With our product you will be able to establish operations safely on tighter sites or, on larger sites, fit more landing pads. Profitable operations are going to need low capital costs and high throughput. You can do the sums on any site to calculate the CapEx savings utilising our product,” he continues.

Skyportz is still offering its impressive terminal designs with Contreras Earl Architecture, but it also wanted to create an entry level package to enable it to break the nexus between aviation and airports with its property partners.

“The mass 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. The elephant in the room is that no-one wants to pay millions of dollars for each vertiport. We have got the message and responded with this patent,” he says.

Skyportz is in discussions with investors seeking to license and produce the product globally.