The first ‘flying car’ and drone airport will open this year

The idea of owning a flying car has been a dream for most people around the world ever since air travel became one of the main methods of transportation.

Owning a flying car does however bring up its own set of logistical issues, chief amongst which is the question of how, and more specifically where these vehicles will land once their journey has come to an end.

Now, it looks as though there might be a solution to this problem. Instead of having your flying vehicle land on a random open field, the UK government has a different solution.

According to reports from Sky News, the UK government has given its backing to open a ‘pop-up urban airport’ that will be used to showcase flying cars and cargo drones. The pop-up airport, which has been dubbed ‘Air One’ will be developed by Hyundai and London-based infrastructure company called Urban-Air Port and will be based in Coventry.

Urban-Air Port has already received a £1.2m government grant for the facility, which has also been matched by Hyundai, according to Sky News, and it is scheduled to open in November 2021.

“Urban-Air Port has the potential to revolutionise cities across the world, making them more connected, cleaner and accelerating our green economic recovery,” said Gary Cutts, UK Research and Innovation Future Flight Challenge Director in a statement.

Don’t expect to see passengers arriving at the new airport anytime soon though. The facility is being built solely to demonstrate how future flying cars and cargo drones will integrate with the infrastructure that can be installed at multiple points around a city, which they will need to be used in urban environments.

The airport features charging station for the flying cars that might go down the EV route, and has elevated take-off and landing platforms to help reduce any noise pollution.

As part of the Air One demonstration scheduled to take place in November, the public will be shown the different passenger processing that the infrastructure provides, this includes passenger check-ins, through to the lounge and boarding preparations. Hyundai is also rumoured to be showing off one of its concept flying cars during the demonstration.

Picture: Hyundai media centre