Mott MacDonald and UrbanV plan to fly high with AAM projects

Companies set to develop vertiports for 'fast, efficient, safe and clean' transport option
By Adam Hill November 10, 2023 Read time: 2 mins
Global ambition: Mott MacDonald and UrbanV (image: Mott MacDonald | UrbanV)

Mott MacDonald and vertiport designer UrbanV are partnering to develop advanced air mobility (AAM) infrastructure worldwide. 

AAM uses electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to move people and goods, and UrbanV plans to enable a route from Fiumicino Airport to Rome city centre by the end of 2024.

Mott MacDonald is already working across the world on several projects, and supported a consortium planning a network of at least 25 vertiports in the UK.

Project principal Horacio Rossi says: “Our team has experience of developing the strategic direction for vertiports, through to masterplans for its size, terminal buildings, energy centre, airfield layout, and safe and efficient operations, as well as crucial connections with other modes of transport."

Carlo Tursi, CEO of UrbanV, says the company - established by Aeroporti di Roma, Save Group, Aeroports de la Côte d’Azur and Aeroporto di Bologna - wants to be a global operator of vertiport networks, "starting from Italy and France, where we are working together with our founding shareholders to establish some of the first AAM routes worldwide".

AAM is "a fast, efficient, safe and clean alternative to existing transport solutions for people and goods over short distances, by air", he adds.

According to Precedence Research, the global market size of AAM was valued at $8.9$ billion last year and is projected to be worth around $45.12 billion by 2030.

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