Archer secures design approval for UAE’s first hybrid heliport in Abu Dhabi, paving way for commercial electric air taxi service

The UAE’s Gen­er­al Civ­il Avi­a­tion Agency (GCAA) has approved the design for the planned trans­for­ma­tion of an Abu Dhabi Cruise Ter­mi­nal heli­pad into a hybrid heli­port for both heli­copter and eVTOL air­craft oper­a­tions. 

Archer is work­ing to trans­form this heli­pad along­side its infra­struc­ture part­ner Fal­con Avi­a­tion in close coor­di­na­tion with the GCAA. Once com­plete, this loca­tion is tar­get­ed to be the first hybrid heli­port avail­able for ear­ly com­mer­cial air taxi oper­a­tions in Abu Dhabi, and part of Archer’s broad­er infra­struc­ture net­work in the UAE, with ear­ly oper­a­tions planned with Abu Dhabi Avi­a­tion (ADA).

Archer select­ed this site because of its loca­tion at the cruise ter­mi­nal, which is a thriv­ing tourism hub wel­com­ing more than 650,000 guests to its port each year. This loca­tion also serves as a gate­way to some of the capital’s most renowned cul­tur­al and leisure des­ti­na­tions, pro­vid­ing access to the Abu Dhabi Port, the Lou­vre Abu Dhabi, the future Saadiy­at Cul­tur­al Dis­trict and the Cor­niche.

H.E. Saif Mohammed Al Suwai­di, Direc­tor Gen­er­al of the GCAA, said: “This mile­stone is not just about infrastructure—it reflects the UAE’s unwa­ver­ing com­mit­ment to inno­va­tion and glob­al lead­er­ship in Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty.

“Through our close col­lab­o­ra­tion with Archer and Fal­con Avi­a­tion Ser­vices, we are enabling a future where sus­tain­able, high-tech air trans­port becomes a core part of our urban land­scape. This approval rep­re­sents a new era for civ­il avi­a­tion, dri­ven by part­ner­ship and vision.”

The GCAA has become the first civ­il avi­a­tion author­i­ty glob­al­ly to devel­op reg­u­la­to­ry stan­dards for hybrid infrastructure—a pio­neer­ing frame­work designed to sup­port the safe, inter­op­er­a­ble and effi­cient oper­a­tion of both heli­copters and eVTOLs from a sin­gle plat­form.

Fol­low­ing indus­try con­sul­ta­tion, these pro­posed stan­dards are now being final­ized and are on track for pub­li­ca­tion by July 2025, mark­ing a sig­nif­i­cant step toward the seam­less inte­gra­tion of advanced air mobil­i­ty into exist­ing avi­a­tion ecosys­tems. 

Under this guid­ance, Archer and its part­ners plan to add charg­ing infra­struc­ture and upgrade land­ing and safe­ty sys­tems to enable use by eVTOL air­craft. By upgrad­ing an exist­ing facil­i­ty, Archer can cap­i­tal­ize on air­space reg­u­la­tions, zon­ing and struc­tures that are already in place, with­out incur­ring the cost and time it would take to build a bespoke ver­ti­port.

Aqeel Al Zarouni, Assis­tant Direc­tor Gen­er­al of the GCAA – Avi­a­tion Safe­ty Affairs Sec­tor, said: “By devel­op­ing the world’s first reg­u­la­to­ry stan­dards for hybrid infra­struc­ture, the GCAA is posi­tion­ing the UAE at the fore­front of glob­al avi­a­tion inno­va­tion.

“This frame­work ensures that our air mobil­i­ty infra­struc­ture is safe, effi­cient, and adaptable—laying the foun­da­tion for the seam­less inte­gra­tion of both heli­copters and next-gen­er­a­tion eVTOL air­craft with­in a uni­fied oper­a­tional envi­ron­ment.”

Adam Gold­stein, CEO and co-founder of Archer, added: “Lever­ag­ing exist­ing avi­a­tion assets is a cor­ner­stone of our launch strat­e­gy. It allows us to move both quick­ly and safely—getting crit­i­cal infra­struc­ture ready ahead of our planned com­mer­cial launch. This achieve­ment has only been pos­si­ble through strong part­ner­ships with the GCAA, ADIO and our local oper­at­ing part­ners.”

Cap­tain Raman­deep Oberoi, CEO of Fal­con Avi­a­tion Ser­vices, added: “This heli­port has long served as a gate­way for vis­i­tors to explore Abu Dhabi from the sky, and its trans­for­ma­tion into a hybrid heli­port marks an excit­ing new chap­ter.

“We are proud to sup­port the UAE’s vision by intro­duc­ing future-ready infra­struc­ture that not only enhances our tourism offer­ing but also sup­ports the shift toward more sus­tain­able and advanced air mobil­i­ty solu­tions”

Air Synap­sis, a Dubai-based com­pa­ny that pro­vides heli­port and ver­ti­port design, sup­plies and project man­age­ment ser­vices, sup­port­ed the apron and air­space design work for the devel­op­ment of this hybrid ver­ti­port.