SkyDrive Partners with Bangkok Airways and Thai Firms to Develop eVTOL Operations in Thailand

Sky­Drive Inc., a Japan­ese man­u­fac­tur­er of com­pact elec­tric ver­ti­cal take­off and land­ing (eVTOL) air­craft, has entered a Mem­o­ran­dum of Under­stand­ing (MOU) with three Thai com­pa­nies: Bangkok Air­ways Pub­lic Com­pa­ny Lim­it­ed, Saha Pathana Inter-Hold­ing Pub­lic Com­pa­ny Lim­it­ed (SPI), and Saha Tokyu Cor­po­ra­tion Com­pa­ny Lim­it­ed.

The part­ner­ship aims to devel­op a roadmap for poten­tial eVTOL oper­a­tions in Thai­land, includ­ing route plan­ning, tick­et sales sys­tems, and main­te­nance infra­struc­ture focused on Sri Racha, Bangkok, and Koh Samui. The agree­ment builds on a pri­or 2024 MOU between Sky­Drive, SPI, and Saha Tokyu that exam­ined the fea­si­bil­i­ty of intro­duc­ing SkyDrive’s air­craft in the coun­try. Bangkok Air­ways, a region­al air­line, now joins the col­lab­o­ra­tion to explore com­mer­cial appli­ca­tions.

The four par­ties will col­lab­o­rate on phased ini­tia­tives, start­ing with air­craft demon­stra­tions to build aware­ness and assess pur­chase inter­est. They will also address sup­port sys­tems for sales, stor­age, main­te­nance, pilot train­ing, and per­son­nel devel­op­ment as oper­a­tions poten­tial­ly scale. Longer-term plans include eval­u­at­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties to local­ize addi­tion­al busi­ness func­tions based on mar­ket demand.

Tomo­hi­ro Fukuza­wa, CEO of Sky­Drive Inc., showed a strong aware­ness of how impor­tant eVTOL oper­a­tions could be in the unique cir­cum­stances of Thai­land’s cur­rent trans­port sit­u­a­tion. “We are delight­ed to part­ner with Bangkok Air­ways, SPI, and Saha Tokyu — three of Thailand’s lead­ing com­pa­nies. Thailand’s rapid growth brings chal­lenges like traf­fic con­ges­tion and emis­sions. Since 2024, we have worked with Saha Pathana Inter-Hold­ing and Saha Tokyu to address these issues with our zero-emis­sion SKYDRIVE eVTOL.”

The Agreement

This new agree­ment builds on an ini­tial MOU signed in June 2024 between SPI, Saha Tokyu, and Sky­Drive to study the fea­si­bil­i­ty of intro­duc­ing SkyDrive’s SKYDRIVE eVTOL air­craft in Thai­land. Bangkok Air­ways has now joined the part­ner­ship, bring­ing its exten­sive avi­a­tion exper­tise to explore more con­crete com­mer­cial appli­ca­tions.

As “Asia’s Bou­tique Air­line,” Bangkok Air­ways is known for its high-qual­i­ty, per­son­al­ized ser­vice on domes­tic and region­al routes. The air­line oper­ates flights to key tourist des­ti­na­tions includ­ing Trat, Sukhothai, Phuket, Chi­ang Mai, and Koh Samui, and owns air­ports and hotels — par­tic­u­lar­ly in Koh Samui. This posi­tions Bangkok Air­ways ide­al­ly to inte­grate eVTOL ser­vices and fur­ther devel­op tourism.

The expand­ed part­ner­ship with the Saha Group and Tokyu Group aims to cre­ate next-gen­er­a­tion urban air mobil­i­ty infra­struc­ture in Thai­land. Suc­cess­ful imple­men­ta­tion could serve as a mod­el for oth­er mar­kets, includ­ing Japan, Aus­tralia, and Viet­nam.

Mr. Put­tipong Prasart­tong-Osoth, Pres­i­dent of Bangkok Air­ways Pub­lic Com­pa­ny Lim­it­ed, said that: “This part­ner­ship marks an impor­tant mile­stone for Thailand’s avi­a­tion indus­try. eVTOL tech­nol­o­gy brings new inno­va­tion, allow­ing us to con­nect cities, air­ports, and tourism des­ti­na­tions more effi­cient­ly and sus­tain­ably. As a ful­ly inte­grat­ed avi­a­tion provider, Bangkok Air­ways is well-placed to inte­grate the SKYDRIVE into our net­work.”

The Collaboration

The four par­ties will work in phas­es to build the nec­es­sary ecosys­tem for eVTOL oper­a­tions in Thai­land, lever­ag­ing exist­ing infra­struc­ture and local part­ners. Ini­tial efforts will focus on air­craft demon­stra­tions and exhi­bi­tions to build aware­ness and secure pur­chase com­mit­ments.

They will also devel­op sup­port sys­tems for air­craft sales, stor­age, main­te­nance, pilot train­ing, and oper­a­tional scal­ing. Over the longer term, the part­ners plan to local­ize addi­tion­al busi­ness func­tions based on mar­ket demand and matu­ri­ty.

Per Masahiko Nishi­mo­to, Man­ag­ing Direc­tor of Saha Tokyu Cor­po­ra­tion Com­pa­ny Lim­it­ed: “Saha Tokyu, cel­e­brat­ing its 10th anniver­sary in 2024, is com­mit­ted to devel­op­ing qual­i­ty liv­ing envi­ron­ments in Si Racha. We are excit­ed to col­lab­o­rate with Bangkok Air­ways, SPI, and Sky­Drive to explore prac­ti­cal appli­ca­tions for eVTOL air­craft. This ini­tia­tive will sup­port region­al devel­op­ment and ben­e­fit Thai soci­ety and its econ­o­my through enhanced con­nec­tiv­i­ty and real estate inte­gra­tion.”

The part­ners will eval­u­ate spe­cif­ic routes designed to reduce traf­fic con­ges­tion and improve con­nec­tiv­i­ty to tourist and res­i­den­tial des­ti­na­tions. Sight­see­ing flights will also be explored to boost tourism.

• Si Racha: Pro­posed routes will con­nect Saha Tokyu’s J‑Park/HarmoniQ res­i­den­tial devel­op­ments (tar­get­ed at Japan­ese expa­tri­ate fam­i­lies) with near­by islands and attrac­tions such as Koh Sichang, Koh Lan, and Pat­taya.
• Bangkok: Medi­um- to long-term plans include air taxi ser­vices link­ing cen­tral Bangkok and res­i­dences like Kings Square with Suvarn­ab­hu­mi Inter­na­tion­al Air­port, offer­ing a fast, com­fort­able alter­na­tive to road traf­fic.
• Koh Samui: The focus will be on scenic sight­see­ing flights show­cas­ing the island’s nat­ur­al beau­ty, as well as con­ve­nient trans­fers between Koh Samui Air­port and major resorts, elim­i­nat­ing traf­fic delays and lengthy boat rides.

Thomas Sleightholm

Thomas is a con­tent writer for eVTOL Insights, cov­er­ing all aspects of the glob­al Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty ecosys­tem. Got a sto­ry for him? Please send an email to editorial@evtolinsights.com

See Full Bio