Skyportz and Sea World Helicopters launch partnership to bring eVTOL aircraft to Australia’s Gold Coast
Skyportz, Sea World Helicopters, Secure Parking and Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate are joining forces to make SE Queensland the centre of the emerging electric air taxi industry in Australia, in time for the Brisbane Olympics.
Back in January, Skyportz announced a partnership with Secure Parking to deliver up to 400 landing sites for eVTOL aircraft in Australia.
Speaking at the Australian Association for Uncrewed Systems in Canberra, Clem Newton-Brown, CEO of Skyportz, said: “We have been accumulating sites in Australia since 2018 and we now have over 400 property partners ready to build a Skyportz network.
“Many are in Southern Queensland and we intend to explore opportunities to connect new vertiport sites with Olympic Games venues, in partnership with local and State Government.
“The Sea World Helicopters partnership means we have an operational partner now on the Gold Coast to activate our vertiport network”.
John Orr-Campbell, CEO of Sea World Helicopters said: “We intend to be at the forefront of the industry as it morphs into cleaner and quieter electric propulsion.
“We have existing helicopter landing infrastructure on the Gold Coast which we can activate with electric eVTOL aircraft as soon as they become available.”
In October 2021, Skyportz revealed the first of its infrastructure for eVTOL air taxis in Australia will be built at the country’s Advanced Manufacturing Centre of Excellence (AAMCE) in Moreton Bay, Brisbane within the next two years, the first in a planned network to service those attending the 2032 Olympic Games.
The announcement builds on the previous partnership in Victoria between Skyportz and Microflite helicopters, as well as with Secure Parking, which has over 50 sites in the Gold Coast and Brisbane regions.
“We look forward to working with Skyportz and Sea World Helicopters to see how our car parking sites might be utilised for an air taxi network in the future”, said Peter Anson, CEO of Secure Parking.
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate added: “We are pushing hard to be seen as a city of innovation, and I can see a place for Skyportz’s operations not only in our city but across the SE Queensland region.
“Over three million people reside between our major cities, but we attract more than 13 million annual visitors so the market is certainly there for innovative transport solutions like this.’’