DUBAI AIRSHOW 2025: Skyports Infrastructure, RAKTA Announce Framework Agreement “to Advance Vertiport Network Development in Ras Al Khaimah”

At the Dubai Air­show, in the pres­ence of His High­ness Sheikh Salem bin Sul­tan Al Qasi­mi, Chair­man of the Depart­ment of Civ­il Avi­a­tion in Ras Al Khaimah, the Ras Al Khaimah Trans­port Author­i­ty (RAKTA) and Sky­ports Infra­struc­ture have announced the sign­ing of a Frame­work Agree­ment to joint­ly devel­op and oper­ate a net­work of ver­ti­ports in the Emi­rate of Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), reports a press release. 

The sign­ing rep­re­sents an impor­tant step for­ward fol­low­ing the Mem­o­ran­dum of Under­stand­ing (MoU) pre­vi­ous­ly signed between RAKTA, Sky­ports and Joby Avi­a­tion ear­li­er this year.

Mid­dle East: “RAKTA, Joby, Sky­ports Col­lab­o­rate Via MOU, to Launch Air Taxi Ser­vice in Ras Al Khaimah by 2027”

The release explains, “The Agree­ment estab­lish­es the foun­da­tion for the devel­op­ment of Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty (AAM) infra­struc­ture in Ras Al Khaimah. It under­lines the shared ambi­tion of RAKTA and Sky­ports to bring zero-emis­sion air taxi ser­vices to the Emi­rate and inte­grate them seam­less­ly into RAK’s wider mobil­i­ty net­work.”

It builds on a pre­vi­ous col­lab­o­ra­tion between the two enti­ties and reflects Ras Al Khaimah’s ambi­tion to pio­neer next-gen­er­a­tion trans­port tech­nolo­gies with­in the UAE.

Dun­can Walk­er, CEO of Sky­ports Infra­struc­ture, com­ment­ed, “Our part­ner­ship with RAKTA has matured sig­nif­i­cant­ly since the ini­tial MoU. Today’s Agree­ment demon­strates clear align­ment between our organ­i­sa­tions to unlock invest­ment and deliv­ery.”

He con­tin­ued, “Ras Al Khaimah has an ambi­tious mobil­i­ty agen­da and Sky­ports is proud to be the infra­struc­ture part­ner bring­ing this vision to life. It marks anoth­er tan­gi­ble step for­ward in build­ing a con­nect­ed UAE ver­ti­port net­work that sup­ports future air taxi oper­a­tions.”

Under this Frame­work Agree­ment, the two par­ties will col­lab­o­rate on site iden­ti­fi­ca­tion, design, devel­op­ment and oper­a­tion of an ini­tial four ver­ti­ports across the Emi­rate, with Phase 1 sites expect­ed to com­mence con­struc­tion in ear­ly 2026 and enter ser­vice in 2027.

(Cred­it: Sky­ports Infrastructure/RAKTA)

These ver­ti­ports will be designed to accom­mo­date var­i­ous eVTOL air­craft and tra­di­tion­al heli­copters, sup­port­ing both inter-emi­rate and intra-RAK con­nec­tiv­i­ty. They are to include links to key tourism and devel­op­ment zones across the Emi­rate such as Al Mar­jan Island, home to sev­er­al major upcom­ing hos­pi­tal­i­ty projects includ­ing the new Wynn Resort, as well as Jebel Jais, the UAE’s high­est peak and one of Ras Al Khaimah’s most vis­it­ed des­ti­na­tions.

His Excel­len­cy Eng. Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi, Direc­tor Gen­er­al of RAKTA,  remarked, “The marks a defin­ing moment in Ras Al Khaimah’s trans­for­ma­tion into a hub for smart and sus­tain­able mobil­i­ty. Build­ing on the ear­li­er MOU with Sky­ports and Joby, we are now tak­ing the prac­ti­cal steps to make this vision a real­i­ty by turn­ing ambi­tion into infra­struc­ture.”

He added, “Through this part­ner­ship, Ras Al Khaimah is posi­tion­ing itself at the fore­front of the UAE’s Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty ecosys­tem, dri­ving inno­va­tion that enhances con­nec­tiv­i­ty, sup­ports tourism and enrich­es the qual­i­ty of life for our com­mu­ni­ty.”

(Cred­it: Sky­ports Infrastructure/RAKTA)

Back­ground

RAKTA, estab­lished by Emiri Decree No. (1) of 2008, is the gov­ern­ment enti­ty respon­si­ble for reg­u­lat­ing and over­see­ing all modes of trans­porta­tion with­in the emi­rate. Its man­date includes plan­ning infra­struc­ture, licens­ing trans­port activ­i­ties and oper­at­ing pub­lic trans­port. 

The organ­i­sa­tion plays a cen­tral role in dri­ving Ras Al Khaimah’s sus­tain­abil­i­ty agen­da by pro­mot­ing effi­cient, con­nect­ed and ener­gy-con­scious mobil­i­ty sys­tems.

For more infor­ma­tion

www.skyports.net

www.rakta.gov.ae

(Top image: Dun­can Walk­er, H.H. Sheikh Salem bin Sul­tan Al Qasi­mi, HE Eng. Esmaeel Hasan Alblooshi)

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