Skyports receives technical design approval from the GCAA for first commercial vertiport in Dubai

The Gen­er­al Civ­il Avi­a­tion Author­i­ty (GCAA) has grant­ed tech­ni­cal design approval for the first com­mer­cial ver­ti­port in the UAE.

This sig­nif­i­cant mile­stone enables Sky­ports Infra­struc­ture (Sky­ports) to con­tin­ue with the devel­op­ment of its Dubai Inter­na­tion­al Ver­ti­port (DXV) facil­i­ty. It is named for its loca­tion near Dubai Inter­na­tion­al Air­port and where com­mer­cial air taxi oper­a­tions are sched­uled to begin from 2026.

The site is the first facil­i­ty to receive design approval under the new­ly estab­lished UAE Ver­ti­port Reg­u­la­tions. It is the first of four sites in an ini­tial air taxi infra­struc­ture net­work being devel­oped by Sky­ports, in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Dubai Roads and Trans­port Author­i­ty (RTA), and Joby Avi­a­tion.

Dun­can Walk­er, CEO of Sky­ports, said: “What we’re under­tak­ing in Dubai – and dri­ving in oth­er regions – com­plete­ly reimag­ines the way peo­ple trav­el around cities and between regions.

“This is all made pos­si­ble through the devel­op­ment of new reg­u­la­to­ry frame­works and guide­lines, which ensure a com­pli­ant, safe, and scal­able approach to avi­a­tion infra­struc­ture.  Today, with the GCAA, we’ve reached a key mile­stone for our flag­ship DXV facil­i­ty, bring­ing us ever clos­er to launch­ing com­mer­cial air taxi oper­a­tions.”

Tech­ni­cal design approval is a cru­cial mile­stone in GCAA’s advanced reg­u­la­to­ry frame­work, which pro­vides assur­ance that pro­posed avi­a­tion infra­struc­ture will com­ply with the phys­i­cal char­ac­ter­is­tic require­ments out­lined in the GCAA’s CAR-HVD Part III.

The reg­u­la­tions ensure the safe imple­men­ta­tion of ver­ti­port infra­struc­ture, a vital com­po­nent for future air mobil­i­ty sys­tems. This achieve­ment high­lights the UAE’s com­mit­ment to inno­va­tion in avi­a­tion while main­tain­ing its glob­al rep­u­ta­tion for world-class safe­ty stan­dards.

The design approval process involves a thor­ough assess­ment of crit­i­cal fac­tors, includ­ing phys­i­cal dimen­sions, lay­out, air­space con­sid­er­a­tions, obsta­cle envi­ron­ment, and Res­cue and Fire Fight­ing Ser­vices (RFFS).

As part of the approval require­ments, Sky­ports demon­strat­ed a com­pre­hen­sive res­cue and fire­fight­ing strat­e­gy for both bat­tery and tra­di­tion­al fuel fires, along with secur­ing nec­es­sary secu­ri­ty approvals.

H.E. Saif Mohammed Al Suwai­di, Direc­tor Gen­er­al of the GCAA, added: “The approval of the DXV Ver­ti­port design advances the UAE’s lead­er­ship in adopt­ing inno­v­a­tive avi­a­tion solu­tions.

“Aligned with the ambi­tious visions of the country’s wise lead­er­ship and sup­port­ing the Air Taxi Project set to launch in 2026, this project exem­pli­fies our com­mit­ment to cre­at­ing safe, secure and future ready infra­struc­ture.”

He added: “The GCAA is proud to play a cen­tral role in enabling trans­for­ma­tive projects, that will rede­fine urban mobil­i­ty and set glob­al bench­marks for inte­grat­ing emerg­ing avi­a­tion tech­nolo­gies.”

The GCAA is pio­neer­ing the devel­op­ment of crit­i­cal reg­u­la­tion to enable and scale air taxi oper­a­tions through­out the Unit­ed Arab Emi­rates. .