UrbanV CEO Unveils Vertiport Expansion Plans Beyond Italy

Carlo Tursi, the CEO of advanced air mobility (AAM) infrastructure developer UrbanV, outlined plans to extend the company’s vertiport ecosystem beyond Italy.

He told Asian Sky Group that the firm seeks to have its first vertiport at Fiumicino International Airport in Rome operational by the end of 2024.

Following the launch of the recently unveiled vertiport in Rome, the plan is to expand to two more cities in Italy – Venice and Bologna – before venturing into France by establishing a vertiport in the coastal city of Nice.

“We expect to activate the first AAM routes by the end of 2024. We are currently planning to build vertiports in Venice, Bologna, and Nice: this will be the initial setup of our international network,” he said.

The key to UrbanV’s future development of AAM infrastructure will be identifying cities that meet specific “sustainability criteria,” Tursi said.

“Our aim is to further expand our network in Italy, Europe, and beyond, focusing on cities that respond to certain suitability criteria – including weather conditions, city size, availability of spaces or infrastructures, etc,” he added.

Pressed on the markets UrbanV has its sights set on, Tursi acknowledged that the U.S., Latin America, and the Middle East are all brimming with potential.

To test the effectiveness of UrbanV’s vertiports, the company is working alongside several eVTOL firms, including Germany-based Volocopter. Tursi said the collaboration is to “ensure compatibility of their aircraft with our vertiports”.

“With the German company Volocopter, for instance, we carried out the first experimental flight of a crewed eVTOL last October, testing for the first time our vertiport in Fiumicino: it was the first time that this type of test was carried out in the Italian airspace,” he explained.

According to Tursi, UrbanV is designing technology-agnostic infrastructure, meaning it will be compatible with all major eVTOL models regardless of the technology utilized. The idea is to have a “flexible and scalable approach” that benefits all-electric aircraft manufacturers.

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