Leeds Bradford Airport commits to developing unmanned and manned aircraft hub with Urban-Air Port

Urban-Air Port (UAP) will col­lab­o­rate with Leeds Brad­ford Air­port (LBA) to devel­op an off-grid, hydro­gen-pow­ered infra­struc­ture hub, as well as capac­i­ty for eVTOL air­craft stor­age and charg­ing. 

The main role of the site will be to pro­vide a space for the com­mand, charg­ing and load­ing of logis­tics drones, pro­vid­ing safe and secure infra­struc­ture to sup­port drone deliv­ery ser­vices in the region in the near future. 

UAP aims to reduce con­ges­tion in busy cities and cre­ate sus­tain­able logis­tics solu­tions through­out the UK. 

“In putting this agree­ment with LBA in place, we are get­ting ahead of the curve for the next wave of logis­tics and infra­struc­ture,” said Ricky Sand­hu, UAP Founder and Exec­u­tive Chair­man. 

“We are look­ing for­ward to devel­op­ing an ultra-com­pact, rapid­ly deploy­able, mul­ti-func­tion­al oper­a­tions hub with facil­i­ties for vehi­cles, pro­vid­ing air­craft com­mand and con­trol, charg­ing and refu­elling, car­go, and pas­sen­ger load­ing.” 

Charles John­son, Head of Plan­ning Devel­op­ment at LBA, added: “This col­lab­o­ra­tion will result in a future with few­er vehi­cles on our road and more sus­tain­able cities, and high­lights the abil­i­ty of York­shire to lead on inno­v­a­tive infra­struc­ture solu­tions. 

“It is fan­tas­tic to see how avi­a­tion and its part­ner indus­tries are devel­op­ing new tech­nolo­gies that will be essen­tial to our future. 

“I am look­ing for­ward to see­ing how the project devel­ops, as we con­tin­ue to act as a key hub for con­nec­tiv­i­ty in the UK.”

Urban-Air Port has begun build­ing its first Air One ver­ti­port for pas­sen­ger air taxis and logis­tics drones at a site in Coven­try, which will be offi­cial­ly opened at an offi­cial launch event on April 25th.

Ear­li­er this month, the com­pa­ny announced mul­ti­ple new part­ner­ships with retail and food and bev­er­age brands to deliv­er the world’s first hub for fly­ing taxis and deliv­ery drones.

Air One – backed by the UK Gov­ern­ment, Super­nal and Coven­try City Coun­cil – will form a blue­print for more than 200 sim­i­lar sites planned by Urban-Air Port across the world in the next five years as air taxis and autonomous deliv­ery drones become a real­i­ty.