MIDDLE EAST: KNETCO and Skyports Sign Partnership in Major Step Towards Advanced Air Mobility in Kuwait

KNETCO and Sky­ports Infra­struc­ture (Sky­ports) have signed a Strate­gic Mem­o­ran­dum of Under­stand­ing (MoU) to work togeth­er on the devel­op­ment of Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty (AAM) infra­struc­ture and sup­port the growth of the emerg­ing AAM ecosys­tem in Kuwait.

Under the agree­ment, Sky­ports will become KNETCO’s part­ner in Kuwait for ver­ti­port infra­struc­ture devel­op­ment, joint mar­ket devel­op­ment, stake­hold­er engage­ment, and the explo­ration of future com­mer­cial oppor­tu­ni­ties.

Riham Al-Ghan­im, Chair­woman of KNETCO, said: “Inno­va­tion is not only about respond­ing to today’s mar­ket. It is also about prepar­ing for the indus­tries and infra­struc­ture that will shape tomorrow’s econ­o­my.

“This part­ner­ship reflects KNETCO’s com­mit­ment to future infra­struc­ture and our con­fi­dence in the oppor­tu­ni­ties that emerg­ing indus­tries can cre­ate as well as sup­port­ing long-term eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment. We also rec­og­nize that devel­op­ing a new mobil­i­ty ecosys­tem requires close col­lab­o­ra­tion with the rel­e­vant gov­ern­ment stake­hold­ers, and we look for­ward to work­ing along­side them as this sec­tor devel­ops.

“We are pleased to work with Sky­ports and look for­ward to build­ing a strong and long-term part­ner­ship. Today’s agree­ment rep­re­sents more than a part­ner­ship. It rep­re­sents the begin­ning of a new chap­ter in infra­struc­ture devel­op­ment.”

The part­ner­ship brings togeth­er KNETCO’s long-stand­ing expe­ri­ence in crit­i­cal infra­struc­ture and telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions with Sky­ports’ glob­al exper­tise in infra­struc­ture for Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty.

The two com­pa­nies share a com­mon view that the future of Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty goes beyond air­craft. A suc­cess­ful AAM mar­ket requires infra­struc­ture, con­nec­tiv­i­ty, dig­i­tal inte­gra­tion, oper­a­tional plan­ning, and col­lab­o­ra­tion between gov­ern­ments, investors, tech­nol­o­gy com­pa­nies, oper­a­tors and infra­struc­ture providers.

Through this part­ner­ship, KNETCO and Sky­ports aim to take prac­ti­cal steps toward build­ing the foun­da­tions required for Kuwait’s future Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty ecosys­tem.

Daniel O’Neill, ME Gen­er­al Man­ag­er, Sky­ports, said: “Kuwait has the ambi­tion, strate­gic loca­tion, and for­ward-look­ing vision to become an impor­tant mar­ket for Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty. Through this strate­gic part­ner­ship with KNETCO, we are bring­ing togeth­er com­ple­men­tary exper­tise to help lay the foun­da­tions for a safe, con­nect­ed, and com­mer­cial­ly viable AAM ecosys­tem in Kuwait.

“With our ver­ti­port net­work in Dubai well under con­struc­tion, and with our core ver­ti­port VDX already com­plet­ed, we look for­ward to apply­ing our indus­try lead­ing skills and knowl­edge to Kuwait’s AAM future.”

Khaled Samy Hall, CEO of KNETCO, added: “Peo­ple often look at Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty and see the air­craft. I see the infra­struc­ture behind it. This agree­ment is our first prac­ti­cal step. Our ambi­tion is not sim­ply to build ver­ti­ports. It is to help cre­ate the infra­struc­ture ecosys­tem that allows Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty to devel­op and grow.

At KNETCO, we have spent decades con­tribut­ing to telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions infra­struc­ture. Today, we are tak­ing that expe­ri­ence into future infra­struc­ture. I gen­uine­ly believe that KNETCO is shap­ing the infra­struc­ture ecosys­tems of the future.

“The part­ner­ship between KNETCO and Sky­ports rep­re­sents an ear­ly prac­ti­cal step toward bring­ing these ele­ments togeth­er and sup­port­ing the future devel­op­ment of Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty.”