VPorts initiates certification process for vertiports in Dubai South

VPorts has ini­ti­at­ed the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion process for its ver­ti­ports as part of the world’s first AAM inte­gra­tor cen­tre at the Mohammed bin Rashid Aero­space Hub (MBRAH) in Dubai South, with con­struc­tion to start in 2024.

Dr Fethi Chebil, CEO and Founder of VPorts, claimed: “We are the first infra­struc­ture com­pa­ny in the world to ini­ti­ate a ver­ti­port cer­ti­fi­ca­tion process. By adher­ing to reg­u­la­tions of the UAE Gen­er­al Civ­il Avi­a­tion Author­i­ty (GCAA), we are tak­ing a proac­tive approach to ensure all our ver­ti­ports meet and exceed indus­try stan­dards.”

The cer­ti­fi­ca­tion process devel­oped by the GCAA aligns with reg­u­la­tion CAR IX-HVD Part III, which out­lines the require­ments and guide­lines for the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion and oper­a­tion of onshore ver­ti­ports with­in the UAE. VPorts plans to obtain design approval with­in six months and cer­ti­fi­ca­tion of the Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) ver­ti­port will fol­low short­ly.

Tariq Bin Gha­lai­ta, gen­er­al avi­a­tion direc­tor at MBRAH, said: “This cer­ti­fi­ca­tion process sig­ni­fies a sub­stan­tial step to cement Dubai’s sta­tus as a glob­al pow­er­house of avi­a­tion and inno­va­tion.

“Embrac­ing pio­neer­ing advance­ments like this lies at the core of our mis­sion, ensur­ing we cre­ate a thriv­ing and dynam­ic ecosys­tem for the aero­space indus­try in Dubai. This step is not just a mile­stone for AAM in the UAE, but glob­al­ly.”

VPorts’ ver­ti­ports incor­po­rate advanced tech­nolo­gies, such as auto­mat­ed land­ing sys­tems, smart charg­ing infra­struc­ture and robust safe­ty pro­ce­dures to ensure opti­mal func­tion­al­i­ty and pas­sen­ger com­fort.

The VPorts Ver­ti­port Oper­a­tion Con­trol Cen­tre (VOCC) will have the capac­i­ty to man­age air traf­fic inte­gra­tion and set up com­mu­ni­ca­tion pro­to­cols between eVTOLs, ver­ti­ports and air nav­i­ga­tion ser­vice providers.

It will also lever­age arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence to eval­u­ate data relat­ed to resource man­age­ment, and encom­pass­es a set of stan­dard oper­at­ing pro­ce­dures to gov­ern day-to-day oper­a­tions.

By align­ing with the reg­u­la­to­ry com­pli­ance frame­work, VPorts ensures that all aspects of its oper­a­tions, includ­ing ground han­dling, pas­sen­ger man­age­ment, main­te­nance pro­to­cols, and emer­gency pro­ce­dures, meet the rig­or­ous stan­dards set by the GCAA.

Chebil con­clud­ed: “We believe that oper­a­tional excel­lence is the foun­da­tion for pro­vid­ing a supe­ri­or client expe­ri­ence. By align­ing our VOCC with the GCAA reg­u­la­to­ry com­pli­ance require­ments, we are deliv­er­ing a seam­less expe­ri­ence for our clients.”

In March, VPorts announced that it would build and oper­ate the first ver­ti­port at Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Air­port in the UAE as a world-class glob­al AAM hub.

VPorts to build and oper­ate first ver­ti­port in UAE