Skyports CEO, Duncan Walker, reflects on the highlights of 2020
Although many people will be glad to leave 2020 behind them, it was a pretty good year for Skyports with a number of highlights.
In February we concluded our Series A fund raise, welcoming Irelandia to the team. Skyports now counts one of the biggest airport operators in the world (Groupe ADP), one of the biggest transportation providers in the world (Deutsche Bahn), one of the most experienced airline founders / operators in the world (Irelandia) and the most experienced investor in advanced aerial mobility in the world (Levitate Capital) as shareholders and advisors.
The delivery by drone team have had great successes this year, helping in a small way with the fight against Covid-19 by flying PPE for the NHS in Scotland. These flights were the first Beyond Visual Line of Sight delivery flights in the UK and as a result of their success we won funding for the next phase, which will commence shortly, from the European Space Agency.
We also flew Royal Mail’s inaugural delivery by drone and will continue this work in 2021.
These are incredibly exciting opportunities for Skyports and with regulation moving in the right direction in Europe, the UK and the US, the scope of what we can achieve is expanding rapidly.
Our infrastructure work continues at pace. We are now active in 14 cities around the world and will be building our first permanent locations later in 2021, in anticipation of initial passenger-carrying flights in 2023. We have projects ongoing with all of the leading vehicle manufacturers, many of whom have closed substantial funding rounds in 2020 and are making exceptional progress through the certification process.
We now have a team of 20 people in the company in 4 offices. Our breadth of experience covers regulations, flight operations, vertiport planning, airport operations, real estate and engineering. I am personally delighted with the quality of the team that we have been able to build and excited for what the next couple of years will bring for Skyports and advanced aerial mobility.
