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Aerial mobility in Korea to soar with new vertiport in Goyang
A rendering of planned urban air mobility (UAM) test infrastructure featuring a vertiport, passenger terminal and hangars in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, released Thursday / Courtesy of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport
By Ko Dong-hwan
The government is bolstering the introduction of urban aerial mobility (UAM) services in Korea, with plans to build a new vertiport in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, within this year for the first field test.
It is the first such infrastructure to be built in a public open space outside a research facility. A vertiport is where electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft dock for passengers to board and disembark or for maintenance and repairs.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Thursday it will sign a memorandum of understanding with Goyang Special City in Gyeonggi Province on Friday for the use of land in Ilsanseo District for a UAM test facility that will include the vertiport, a passenger terminal and a hangar. The site is next to KINTEX, which hosts major global exhibitions throughout the year.
The three-level vertiport, based on the country's first standard design for the facility, will be built on a 1,836-square-meter site. Once completed, eVTOL aircraft will be tested flying between the vertiport and two nearby airfields along the Han River.
The vertiport will enable testing of UAM operations under conditions and environments almost identical to those of actual commercial operations. Passenger terminals, ground operations, maintenance and repair systems, operation control towers and facility maintenance systems will be tested comprehensively.
The government will first build the vertiport and then complete the rest of the infrastructure by the end of next year.
The new vertiport comes after the government in 2023 launched the country’s first UAM testing infrastructure at the National Comprehensive Flight Test Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province. The facility was used to test the first stage of the government’s K-UAM project.
Authorities began testing aerial mobility technology by first conducting trials in a remote area in the southwestern county with a small local population. To advance to the second stage, the government selected Goyang to deploy the vertiport in an urban setting.
The new vertiport will accommodate tests and generate data based on which public-private partnerships will develop eVTOL aircraft and help the government design regulations for UAM operations.
“This second-stage infrastructure will be a core base for K-UAM to advance beyond technical testing to trial services and private commercialization,” said Park Joon-hyeong, director of the ministry's Mobility and Motor Vehicles Bureau,