Bicester: Plans for 'UK first' flying taxi test centre revealed

Skyports based the plans on existing testbeds in France and the US

Plans for a flying taxi testing centre have been revealed.

Skyports Infrastructure will develop what it has said will be the UK's first vertiport testbed at Bicester Motion in Oxfordshire.

It is hoped the new vertiport, which will include a passenger terminal, will play a significant role in enabling the next generation of electric aviation.

Air taxis are typically designed to carry two to six passengers and are battery powered.

A vertiport is an area that can support electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, or eVTOL, during flights.

Skyports aims to open the doors to its UK vertiport by the end of 2024.

The port would be based at Bicester Motion in Oxfordshire

The design, which has been submitted to Cherwell District Council, has drawn inspiration from existing testbeds in Paris and California.

The company said the location would "demonstrate how air taxi services will provide a vital link between urban centres, regional, tourism and retail hubs".

Duncan Walker, chief executive officer at Skyports, said the vertiport would be "a key location for early demonstration flights" and would "help to pave the way for permanent operations in the future".

Daniel Geoghegan, chief executive at Bicester Motion, added that the plans were "a major step for UK aviation innovation" and that "these eVTOLs will use electric power to hover, take off and land vertically, meaning that noise is kept to a minimum and pioneering sustainable flight and travel are nearer a reality".

In December, the National Air Traffic Service (NATS) carried out the UK's first major eVTOL air traffic control simulations, which it said demonstrated how air taxis could one day be safely integrated with conventional air traffic.

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