Skyports to develop network of vertiports in Ras Al Khaimah region, with first air taxi operations planned for 2027

Ras Al Khaimah Trans­port Author­i­ty (RAKTA), Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Devel­op­ment Author­i­ty (RAKTDA) and Sky­ports Infra­struc­ture are set to intro­duce elec­tric air taxis in the Emi­rate by 2027.

As part of a Mem­o­ran­dum of Under­stand­ing announced today (Tues­day), this new part­ner­ship will see Sky­ports devel­op a net­work of ver­ti­ports to con­nect key attrac­tions across Ras Al Khaimah, pro­pelling the area as a des­ti­na­tion of the future and align­ing with RAKTA’s Strate­gic Plan 2030.

Under the agree­ment RAKTA, RAKTDA and Sky­ports will col­lab­o­ra­tive­ly design, devel­op, and oper­ate Ras Al Khaimah’s first eVTOL air taxi ecosys­tem, with com­mer­cial oper­a­tions set to com­mence in three years.

Dun­can Walk­er, CEO and founder of Sky­ports, said: “We are eager to join forces with the lead­ing trans­port and tourism organ­i­sa­tions in Ras Al Khaimah to launch elec­tric air taxi ser­vices in the Emi­rate.

“This col­lab­o­ra­tion fur­ther under­scores our com­mit­ment to pro­vid­ing the essen­tial enabling infra­struc­ture for zero-emis­sion avi­a­tion across the UAE. We look for­ward to con­tribut­ing our exper­tise to realise Ras Al Khaimah’s ambi­tious trans­port and tourism goals.”

This inno­v­a­tive project will seam­less­ly inte­grate Sky­ports’ ver­ti­port infra­struc­ture with RAK­TA’s exist­ing trans­port net­work, pro­vid­ing fast and con­ve­nient zero-emis­sion trans­port to Ras Al Khaimah’s most pop­u­lar areas and attrac­tions, includ­ing Al Mar­jan Island, Al Ham­ra and Jebel Jais, the UAE’s high­est peak.

Tourists and res­i­dents vis­it­ing these icon­ic sites will expe­ri­ence sub­stan­tial time sav­ings from the ser­vice. For exam­ple, trav­el­ling from Al Mar­jan Island to Jebel Jais takes approx­i­mate­ly 70 min­utes by car. The launch of air taxi ser­vices will cut the jour­ney time to less than 20 min­utes.

H.E Eng. Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi, Direc­tor Gen­er­al of RAKTA, said: “This part­ner­ship marks a piv­otal moment in our efforts to rev­o­lu­tionise trans­porta­tion in Ras Al Khaimah. By intro­duc­ing elec­tric air mobil­i­ty, we’re not just con­nect­ing tourists to our attrac­tions, we’re forg­ing a sus­tain­able path for­ward for our Emi­rate.

“This inno­v­a­tive project aligns per­fect­ly with our com­mit­ment to enhanc­ing acces­si­bil­i­ty while min­imis­ing our envi­ron­men­tal impact, fol­low­ing our 2030 strate­gic plan. Togeth­er, we’re shap­ing a brighter, green­er future for Ras Al Khaimah.”

The ver­ti­port net­work will trans­form trans­porta­tion in Ras Al Khaimah and sup­port its objec­tive of respon­si­bly dri­ving 3.5 mil­lion vis­i­tors annu­al­ly by 2030. By pro­vid­ing zero-emis­sion trans­porta­tion options, the Emi­rate is rein­forc­ing its com­mit­ment to envi­ron­men­tal stew­ard­ship and sus­tain­able devel­op­ment.

These ambi­tions align with Sky­ports’ design approach, which pri­ori­tis­es inte­gra­tion with exist­ing pub­lic tran­sit net­works to pro­mote more sus­tain­able trans­porta­tion.

In addi­tion, this ini­tia­tive direct­ly address­es the press­ing need for inno­v­a­tive solu­tions to cut car­bon emis­sions in ground trans­porta­tion, a sec­tor that accounts for 40% of green­house gas emis­sions in the trav­el and tourism indus­try, as high­light­ed by the World Trav­el and Tourism Coun­cil (WTTC). Fur­ther­more, it will unlock future oppor­tu­ni­ties to inte­grate with air taxi net­works across the Unit­ed Arab Emi­rates (UAE).

H.E Raki Phillips, CEO of Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Devel­op­ment Author­i­ty, expressed his enthu­si­asm about the part­ner­ship. He aded: “The sup­port we’ve received from the UAE gov­ern­ment and Ras Al Khaimah author­i­ties has been phe­nom­e­nal, enabling us to inno­vate at an unprece­dent­ed scale and pace. In the next two years, we aim to build the infra­struc­ture and facil­i­ties for an elec­tric-pow­ered tran­sit sys­tem that will rede­fine the way tourists expe­ri­ence Ras Al Khaimah.

“This col­lab­o­ra­tion also per­fect­ly aligns with our com­mit­ment to sus­tain­able tourism. By intro­duc­ing elec­tric air mobil­i­ty, we not only enhance acces­si­bil­i­ty to Ras Al Khaimah’s attrac­tions but also sig­nif­i­cant­ly reduce our car­bon foot­print. This ini­tia­tive dri­ves us clos­er to our goal of estab­lish­ing Ras Al Khaimah as a region­al leader in sus­tain­able tourism by 2025”.

This lat­est announce­ment by Sky­ports fur­ther strength­ens the UAE’s posi­tion as a lead­ing mar­ket for the bur­geon­ing advanced air mobil­i­ty indus­try.

Else­where, Sky­ports is lead­ing the research, devel­op­ment and con­struc­tion of ver­ti­ports, part­ner­ing with the world’s lead­ing eVTOL com­pa­nies to pro­vide crit­i­cal infra­struc­ture for the launch of com­mer­cial pas­sen­ger and car­go flight.

Last month, Sky­ports raised USD$110 mil­lion and onboard­ed new investor ACS Group to sup­port its com­mer­cial launch.