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Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport could become a site for air taxis under a new partnership between owner Wagner Group and vertiport infrastructure firm Skyports.
Skyports and Wagner will look at potential vertiport sites in Wagner’s real estate portfolio around South-East Queensland and collaborate with potential electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) operators, including Wisk, to find locations and support advanced air mobility (AAM).
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“It is vital to start work on eVTOL infrastructure to have enough sites approved and operational in the lead up to the launch of air taxi services and ahead of the 2032 Olympics. Our partnership with Skyports is an important step towards this goal,” said John Wagner, chairman at Wagner Corporation.
“In addition, Wagner Corporation intends to build vertiport and manufacturing facilities at the Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport to allow all OEM operators access to a site for the construction and testing of eVTOLs for the Asia Pacific Region.”
The partnership will also speak to stakeholders including state government, city councils, planning authorities and regulators on AAM.
Yun-Yuan Tay, head of Asia-Pacific at Skyports Infrastructure, said the London-based firm is “committed to playing an integral role in enabling air taxi services across Queensland and the wider Australian market”.
“Our partnership with Wagner Corporation brings essential local knowledge in airport development, construction, and real estate, which, combined with our vertiport infrastructure experience, will catalyse the launch of air taxi operations,” he said.
“With our existing partnership with the leading autonomous EVTOL company Wisk, AAM is heating up in Australia.”
Skyports’ partnership with Wisk, announced last month, will see the two companies look into the potential for a vertiport network in the SEQ region by the end of the decade.
The prospective network would use Wisk’s recently-developed sixth-generation eVTOL aircraft, which have four seats and will operate autonomously between vertiport sites on pre-planned routes. Wisk is expecting to conduct test flights by the end of the year.
Catherine MacGowan, VP of air operations for Asia-Pacific at Wisk, told Australian Aviation the autonomous systems combine technology on the aircraft and the ground.
“The aircraft is designed to fly itself, to fly a prescribed route, and it’s a route that was carefully designed with Airservices or other air navigation service providers,” MacGowan said.
“The aircraft will be able to follow those instructions, but also be able to understand the environment around it and respond where necessary, to receive direction from our multi-vehicle supervisor and just see what’s happening around it.
“So, you can think of our autonomous system as having the aircraft, but also the comms links, and then on the ground, we’ll have a multi-vehicle supervisor that is the pilot in command of the aircraft.”
Companies such as Australian-based firm Skyportz, which is unrelated to Skyports, have also been pushing the cause of AAM in Australia, with Skyportz in April launching an “e-airline” for its future air taxi services.
