Middle East: AeroGulf Services to purchase 20 of SkyDrive’s SD-05 eVTOL Aircraft for Dubai Service planned for 2028

Sky­Drive has reached a gen­er­al under­stand­ing with AeroGulf Ser­vices Com­pa­ny LLC regard­ing the poten­tial pur­chase of 20 of its SD-05 eVTOL air­craft, with 10 units to be pur­chased in 2028 and the final 10 in 2029.

This agree­ment rep­re­sents Sky­Drive’s first detailed explo­ration of com­mer­cial para­me­ters with a cus­tomer out­side Japan, while AeroGulf Ser­vice is ded­i­cat­ed to advanc­ing a new tourism ven­ture which uti­lizes envi­ron­men­tal­ly con­scious, next-gen­er­a­tion mobil­i­ty.

Fol­low­ing the sign­ing of a Mem­o­ran­dum of Under­stand­ing (MOU) in Feb­ru­ary 2025 to assess com­mer­cial flight paths above the renowned Palm Jumeirah in Dubai, the two com­pa­nies sub­se­quent­ly agreed on a pre-order for as many as 50 air­craft.

The deliv­ery of eVTOL air­craft is aimed to sup­port the spe­cif­ic time­line for the com­mer­cial­iza­tion of AeroGulf’s eVTOL ser­vices in Dubai, start­ing in 2028.

Tomo­hi­ro Fukuza­wa, Founder/CEO, Sky­Drive, said: “Reach­ing a gen­er­al under­stand­ing on com­mer­cial para­me­ters for up to 20 Sky­Driveair­craft with AeroGulf Ser­vices, Dubai’s pre­mier heli­copter char­ter oper­a­tor, is a sig­nif­i­cant step toward glob­al com­mer­cial­iza­tion and a source of great inspi­ra­tion for our team.

“This impor­tant mile­stone under­scores the Mid­dle East­’s role as a crit­i­cal­strate­gic hub in real­iz­ing Sky­Drive’s vision of every­day air mobility.By estab­lish­ing a frame­work that address­es both pric­ing and deliv­ery con­sid­er­a­tions for 2028 and 2029, our tran­si­tion from devel­op­ment to oper­a­tions grows clos­er.

He added: “The focus on the icon­ic Palm Jumeirah will demon­strate how eVTOL tech­nol­o­gy cantrans­form tourism and urban mobil­i­ty. Through our man­u­fac­tur­ing part­ner­ship with Suzu­ki Motor Cor­po­ra­tion, we are com­mit­ted to deliv­er­ing safe, high-qual­i­ty air­craft. We look for­ward to con­tin­u­ing our col­lab­o­ra­tion with AeroGulf Ser­vices as we work­to­ward advanc­ing Dubai’s posi­tion at the fore­front of sus­tain­able avi­a­tion.”

This part­ner­ship also puts AeroGulf Ser­vices, Dubai’s pre­mier heli­copter char­ter oper­a­tor, in a posi­tion to pio­neer advanced air mobil­i­ty in the Mid­dle East, offer­ing clients access to cut­ting-edge, zero-emis­sion avi­a­tion tech­nol­o­gy.

The com­pa­ny is ded­i­cat­ed to advanc­ing a new tourism ven­ture that uti­lizes envi­ron­men­tal­ly con­scious, next-gen­er­a­tion mobil­i­ty. Fol­low­ing the sign­ing of a Mem­o­ran­dum of Under­stand­ing (MOU) in Feb­ru­ary 2025 to assess com­mer­cial flight paths above the renowned Palm Jumeirah in Dubai, the two com­pa­nies sub­se­quent­ly agreed on a pre-order for as many as 50 air­craft.

Fahad Moham­mad Mir Hashem Khoory, CEO, AeroGulf Ser­vices Com­pa­ny, said: “For almost half a cen­tu­ry, AeroGulf has been the pulse of Dubai’s skies. We were theones who first took up the chal­lenge of fly­ing in a heli­copter to oil plat­forms, when the­jour­ney of this city began.

“Today, we cher­ish that her­itage by elect­ing to lead again.Far from being just a trans­ac­tion, our part­ner­ship with Sky­Drive rep­re­sents anin­vest­ment in our peo­ple and in the future of our home. We hope to give flight back toso­ci­ety as nature intend­ed it: silent, sus­tain­able, and seam­less.

“Bring­ing these 20 eVTOL air­craft to Dubai con­tin­ues an assur­ance that our skies will remain a sym­bol of pro­gressthat pays respect to our envi­ron­ment and our her­itage. We don’t wait for the future in Dubai; we build it with our own hands. AeroGulf was there at the start, and we are here now to ensure the next chap­ter of avi­a­tion is as bold and inspir­ing as the first.”

Found­ed in 1976, AeroGulf Ser­vices is Dubai’s first com­mer­cial heli­copter oper­a­tor, pri­mar­i­ly spe­cial­iz­ing in heli­copter oper­a­tions and main­te­nance. The com­pa­ny pro­vides a wide range of avi­a­tion ser­vices, includ­ing car­go trans­port, aer­i­al film­ing, and Emer­gency Med­ical Ser­vices (EMS).

Fea­tured image: Sky­Drive’s eVTOL pro­to­type tak­ing part in demon­stra­tion flights dur­ing Osa­ka Expo 2025.