Up + away
Flying taxis are on their way, changing the face of airports and cities
In the animated 1960s sitcom The Jetsons, a space-age family zoomed around Orbit City in a bubble-topped aerocar, an improbable invention to those living through the Mid Century. And now here we are in 2025: at the advent of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.
Like a cross between a small airplane and a helicopter, this ‘electric air taxi’ is already close to launching in the US, where policymaking is well underway and global players like Uber Elevate are investing billions.
As this technology makes its way out of testing and into reality, Architectus Senior Associate Len Parker and our Aviation team are looking at the kinds of spaces cities will need at the origin, like a building rooftop, and at the destination – the airport.
For Len, the key question is: How do we design these new ‘vertiports’ so they’re a seamless part of the ‘last mile’ journey to and from airports, making the user experience better overall?
A dash with no delays
Today we’re accustomed to stressful trips to the airport by road, where we’re at the mercy of city traffic. Rail can also be an extended journey, with multiple stops or other unexpected delays.
But what if you could join your colleagues in an eVTOL you simply catch from the top of your office, or a nearby car park? With capacity for 4-6 people plus a pilot – with driverless options on the way – this premium service could whisk you to the airport in one quick, continuous trip.
Our team imagined how a vertiport might interconnect with the Architectus studio in Melbourne, for example.
How a vertiport and airport could co-exist
A typical airport layout incorporates a long building with a road on one side (landside), aircraft on the other (airside), and an upper floor dedicated to check-in and lower floor for baggage claim and transport.
Current regulations and airspace constraints limit the placement of vertiports around airports, with likely locations including existing heliports and possibly car park interfaces.
Our Aviation team is intrigued by the potential to incorporate these new elements into existing airport infrastructure as the technology and safety around eVTOLs improves.
What if we designed vertiports at intervals on the landside interface of a terminal, addressing the ‘last mile problem’ and streamlining a passenger’s journey? New lobby spaces could connect eVOTLs directly to check-in zones or screening points and departures concourses. (Future security changes may even allow direct concourse access via biometrics.)
Similarly, the eVTOL lobby could be accessed directly from ground level via vertical transport to serve the arriving passenger. Len says the team is looking at the potential to test concepts using a hypothetical airport based on the typical layout of Australia’s major airports.
As ideas for these vertiports take shape globally, our designers are also thinking about “how we put an Australian spin on these new spaces, to suit our climate and lifestyle,” Len adds.
The sky’s the limit
Like most of the world, Australia is at the beginning of the eVTOL journey and still in the early phases of looking at vertiport planning and design, says Len, who’s leading our research into this emerging field.
With similarities to Florida – where eVTOLs are due to launch in 2026 – and with the Brisbane 2032 Olympics on the horizon, the fast-growing South East Queensland region is likely to be a focus. The Council of Mayors (South East Queensland) has already partnered with eVTOL developers Wisk Aero to introduce “a safe, sustainable, and scalable, autonomous air taxi service”.
But there are far more untapped opportunities nationwide, and before we know it, we’ll be able to take to the skies on our way to airline flights.
