The Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, announced on Tuesday, November 12, the commencement of construction for the first air taxi station near Dubai International Airport. He made the announcement on his account on the social media platform X.
"We have started building the first vertiport for air taxis in Dubai, located next to Dubai International Airport. The facility will cover an area of 3,100 square meters and is expected to serve approximately 170,000 passengers annually," wrote Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
According to the Sheikh, the first phase will include stations in the city center, Dubai Marina, and Palm Jumeirah. The launch of this service is scheduled for 2026.
In 2023, AP reported that the air taxis are designed to accommodate a pilot and four passengers, with a flight speed of 320 km/h. This means passengers can travel from Dubai International Airport (DXB) to Palm Jumeirah in just 10-12 minutes. There are also plans to create air taxis that will operate between Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
According to the agency, the program's partner will be the American venture aviation company Joby Aviation.
In November 2022, Arabian Business reported on plans to launch electric taxis with vertical takeoff and landing in Abu Dhabi. Additionally, back in 2021, Dubai's Crown Prince Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum tweeted about plans to bring 4,000 Origin drones from Cruise to Dubai. In the summer of 2022, Cruise began mapping Dubai virtually to launch a robotaxi service in 2023.