Middle East: Plans to build more than 10 vertiport sites in Abu Dhabi confirmed, work to be completed as early as next year

Abu Dhabi Air­ports and Sky­ports Infra­struc­ture have announced the devel­op­ment of Abu Dhabi’s com­mer­cial ver­ti­port net­work, with more than 10 ver­ti­port sites to be built at loca­tions across the Emi­rate, includ­ing Zayed Inter­na­tion­al Air­port (AUH) and Al Bateen Exec­u­tive Air­port (AZI).

Announced ear­li­er this week dur­ing DriftX in Abu Dhabi, the part­ner­ship paves the way for Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty oper­a­tions, with con­struc­tion already under way and set to be com­plete in Q1 2026.

The net­work will con­nect key urban, busi­ness and tourism hubs, includ­ing Zayed Inter­na­tion­al Air­port, Al Bateen Exec­u­tive Air­port and Yas Island to Saadiy­at and Abu Dhabi Island, enabling fast, clean and effi­cient air trans­port across the emi­rate. Fur­ther sites and inter­ci­ty routes will be announced in sub­se­quent phas­es.

Each ver­ti­port will be ful­ly inte­grat­ed into Abu Dhabi’s wider trans­port sys­tem, fea­tur­ing ground trans­port and dig­i­tal infra­struc­ture, through the smart sys­tems of the Inte­grat­ed Trans­port Cen­tre (Abu Dhabi Mobil­i­ty) and the net­work of Abu Dhabi Air­ports, ensur­ing seam­less mul­ti­modal con­nec­tions.

Ele­na Sor­li­ni, Man­ag­ing Direc­tor and Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer at Abu Dhabi Air­ports, said:  “This part­ner­ship rep­re­sents a piv­otal moment for Abu Dhabi’s mobil­i­ty land­scape.

“By estab­lish­ing these ini­tial ver­ti­port loca­tions at Zayed Inter­na­tion­al Air­port (AUH) and Al Bateen Exec­u­tive Air­port (AZI), we are lay­ing the con­crete foun­da­tions for an emi­rate-wide Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty net­work.

“This ini­tia­tive under­scores Abu Dhabi Air­ports’ com­mit­ment to embrac­ing inno­va­tion and posi­tion­ing the emi­rate as a glob­al leader in future trans­port and con­nec­tiv­i­ty, pro­vid­ing a seam­less and strate­gic link for eVTOL oper­a­tions between our air­ports and across the cap­i­tal.”

The ini­tia­tive is part of the Smart and Autonomous Vehi­cle Indus­tries (SAVI) clus­ter’s strat­e­gy to sup­port Abu Dhabi’s inno­va­tion-dri­ven eco­nom­ic diver­si­fi­ca­tion by deploy­ing cut­ting-edge tech­nolo­gies, includ­ing advanced and sus­tain­able air mobil­i­ty solu­tions.

The Inte­grat­ed Trans­port Cen­tre (Abu Dhabi Mobil­i­ty) and UAE’s Gen­er­al Civ­il Avi­a­tion Authroir­ty (GCAA) are con­tribut­ing to the devel­op­ment and oper­a­tion of Abu Dhabi’s ver­ti­port net­work with­in a clear reg­u­la­to­ry frame­work.

This is to ensure com­pli­ance with the high­est stan­dards of safe­ty, per­for­mance and inte­gra­tion, enabling seam­less align­ment with Abu Dhabi’s air­space and broad­er trans­port sys­tems while ensur­ing finan­cial sus­tain­abil­i­ty.

With­in the part­ner­ship, Sky­ports will be pro­vid­ing its exten­sive expe­ri­ence in ver­ti­port devel­op­ment and oper­a­tions.

Togeth­er with Abu Dhabi Air­ports, the two par­ties will lead on the design, con­struc­tion and engi­neer­ing of each ver­ti­port, along­side the sup­ply and instal­la­tion of all equip­ment and tech­nol­o­gy required for ver­ti­port oper­a­tions.

Once con­struc­tion is com­plete, Sky­ports and Abu Dhabi Air­ports intend to part­ner on the oper­a­tion of each ver­ti­port, includ­ing pas­sen­ger han­dling, secu­ri­ty pro­cess­ing, car­go oper­a­tions and inte­gra­tion with the eVTOL oper­a­tors.

Dun­can Walk­er, CEO, Sky­ports Infra­struc­ture, added: “This ver­ti­port net­work is a key com­po­nent of Abu Dhabi’s AAM strat­e­gy.

“With Sky­ports already hav­ing active ver­ti­port projects under devel­op­ment both in the UAE and beyond, we feel we are in the best posi­tion to apply our pre­vi­ous knowl­edge and exper­tise and help bring the ben­e­fits of AAM to the UAE’s largest emi­rate. We look for­ward to being able to facil­i­tate eVTOL flights in Abu Dhabi in the near future.”