Shopping centers make ideal location for flying taxis vertiports

Can you picture a vertiport on the parking lot of one of your shopping centers bringing in additional revenue and lots of affluent shoppers? No? Why, because you don't know what it is?

Well, a vertiport is the take-off and landing site for electrically powered aircraft taking off and landing vertically. It can be part of a vertihub if there is a large volume of air traffic where several vertiports are located. A vertiport is similar to a heliport or helipad. It is a take-off and landing site for a large number of eVTOLs.

Short for electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, eVTOLs are also referred to as air taxis or flying taxis. Powered by batteries, eVTOLs hover and fly, much like a helicopter, and are typically designed to carry two to six passengers, including a pilot. That is, if a pilot is used as eVTOLs can take off, fly and land by remote control just like a drone.

As we enter the Jetson era, flying taxis powered by electricity will become more common to transport affluent passengers in congested urban and suburban settings. Obviously, air taxis need a location to take off, land and recharge where passengers can board or disembark. That is why real estate sites are needed for vertiports.

Los Angeles-based Commercial Brokers International has lined up eight sites around Los Angeles for vertiports that could lift off in time for the 2028 Olympics. CEO George Pino led the site search for this unusual use.

Its client, United Kingdom-based Skyports Drone Services plans to operate these vertiports much like traditional airports — offering recharging, maintenance and passenger services — while third-party aviation companies oversee the aircraft that resemble large drones due to their size, fuel efficiency and potential to be operated without a pilot. By 2028, Skyports wants its first Los Angeles terminals open for business at rooftops, parking structures and industrial sites across the region.

Shopping centers are best suited to provide these locations for several reasons: 1) Shopping centers are large centrally located commercial venues that attract many people, 2) Shopping centers have large parking fields that can accommodate the landing and charging facilities, 3) Shopping centers can benefit from the upscale consumer traffic these eVTOLs would bring, and 4) Shopping centers are always looking for ancillary income that would be generated from the operators of vertiports.

Read more: Brokerage aims to help get LA's flying taxi industry off the ground (CoStar News)