Skyports Infrastructure and City of Gold Coast to advance commercial Advanced Air Mobility in Australia

Sky­ports Infra­struc­ture has signed a Mem­o­ran­dum of Under­stand­ing (MoU) with the City of Gold Coast, which will see both par­ties col­lab­o­rate on imple­ment­ing Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty (AAM) with­in the city.

As a part of the agree­ment, Sky­ports will lead the devel­op­ment of the ver­ti­port net­work and the sup­port­ing ver­ti­port infra­struc­ture, includ­ing nav­i­gat­ing the reg­u­la­to­ry frame­work, sup­port­ing the plan­ning path­ways, scop­ing poten­tial ver­ti­port sites and engag­ing with land own­ers. In time, Sky­ports plans to oper­ate the net­work.

The MoU was signed between Yun Yuan Tay, Head of APAC, Sky­ports, and Gold Coast May­or Tom Tate, at the City of Gold Coast Cham­bers.

Com­ment­ing on the announce­ment, Tate said: “We want the Gold Coast to be at the cut­ting edge of tech­nol­o­gy, and my dis­cus­sions about trans­port oppor­tu­ni­ties with Sky­ports on my pre­vi­ous trips to Sin­ga­pore and Dubai are now com­ing into fruition. Hav­ing seen the Sky­ports oper­a­tions in Dubai first­hand, I can tell you that air taxis are the future of trans­port. It’s no longer sci­ence fic­tion, it is real­i­ty and I want the Gold Coast to be at the fore­front of this trans­port rev­o­lu­tion.

“I would like to see the Sky­ports land­ing pads built as soon as pos­si­ble so we can have every­thing ready for the 2032 Bris­bane Olympic and Par­a­lympic Games. Part­ner­ing with glob­al lead­ers like Sky­ports will ensure that our Olympic lega­cy isn’t just sta­di­ums and sport­ing fields, but also trans­port improve­ments for the future.”

The col­lab­o­ra­tion builds on a pre­vi­ous MoU signed in March 2026 with Alt Air and EVE Air Mobil­i­ty, out­lin­ing a plan to pre­pare for eVTOL oper­a­tions across both New South Wales and Queens­land. This new MoU brings on a gov­ern­ment part­ner to help dri­ve the pro­gramme.

The poten­tial use cas­es and ben­e­fits for AAM on the Gold Coast are strong. The Gold Coast is one of Australia’s fastest-grow­ing regions, pow­ered by a strong tourism econ­o­my and a com­mit­ment to inno­v­a­tive urban devel­op­ment.

As part of its Lega­cy 2030 vision and in prepa­ra­tion for increased vis­i­ta­tion lead­ing up to the 2032 Bris­bane Olympic and Par­a­lympic Games, AAM fits well with­in the City’s strat­e­gy of imple­ment­ing future-focused mobil­i­ty solu­tions that will enhance con­nec­tiv­i­ty and ele­vate the vis­i­tor expe­ri­ence.

Fol­low­ing ini­tial dis­cus­sions, Sky­ports has worked with local land­lord part­ners to explore poten­tial loca­tions in a future net­work. To date, there is ongo­ing pos­i­tive dis­cus­sion with Gold Coast Air­port, amongst oth­er high val­ue loca­tions in the region.

With increas­ing con­ges­tion, expand­ing tourism flows, AAM presents a com­pelling oppor­tu­ni­ty to deliv­er faster, more sus­tain­able, and pre­mi­um mobil­i­ty across the coast. Through the planned net­work, a 45 minute dri­ve between Gold Coast Air­port and Broad­beach can be reduced to a 5–7 minute flight.

Amelia Evans, CEO, Queens­land Air­ports Lim­it­ed, said: “We’re keen to explore part­ner­ships that enhance how peo­ple move through and around our region. Dis­cus­sions with Sky­ports Infra­struc­ture around Advanced Air mobil­i­ty nat­u­ral­ly aligns with our 2024 Gold Coast Air­port Mas­ter Plan vision – one cen­tred on sus­tain­abil­i­ty, inno­va­tion and seam­less con­nec­tiv­i­ty for our pas­sen­gers and wider com­mu­ni­ty.”

Sky­ports is the glob­al leader in ver­ti­port infra­struc­ture devel­op­ment glob­al­ly. Its Dubai Ver­ti­port Net­work is plan­ning com­mer­cial eVTOL oper­a­tions before the end of 2026, and it is con­struct­ing a par­al­lel net­work in Abu Dhabi.

It also oper­ates the world’s busiest com­mer­cial heli­port in New York City, Down­town Sky­port, which it is tran­si­tion­ing to AAM, and is devel­op­ing Korea’s first ver­ti­port net­work in Jeju Island, which will see com­mer­cial oper­a­tions in 2028.

Yun Yuan Tay, Head of APAC, Sky­ports Infra­struc­ture, added: “This col­lab­o­ra­tion reflects a shared ambi­tion to deliv­er inno­v­a­tive, future-ready trans­port for one of Australia’s most dynam­ic regions.

“By com­bin­ing Sky­ports’ glob­al exper­tise in ver­ti­port devel­op­ment with the City’s for­ward-think­ing vision, we are lay­ing the ground­work for a con­nect­ed, effi­cient and sus­tain­able mobil­i­ty net­work that will enhance acces­si­bil­i­ty for res­i­dents and vis­i­tors alike”