The UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has issued a certificate for the VDX vertiport in Dubai, confirming its compliance with the requirements for receiving electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL). The facility was built from scratch by Skyports Infrastructure together with the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) next to Dubai International Airport. The four-storey building, covering approximately 3,100 m², is designed specifically for regular commercial operations rather than demonstration flights: it includes two dedicated takeoff and landing pads, fast battery-charging infrastructure, passenger service areas, and operations management systems. Once at full capacity, the vertiport will be able to handle up to 170,000 passengers per year — roughly 19 people per hour around the clock.
Infrastructure as a node of new transport
The certification of VDX is a key milestone for the entire urban air mobility industry, because the development of air taxis depends not only on the aircraft themselves but also on ground infrastructure, safety standards, and operational procedures. The regulator assessed the physical structure of the facility, its operational processes, and its safety management system. This type of low-altitude aviation is designed to operate without traditional runways, allowing transport hubs to be placed as close as possible to urban residential areas and to cut passenger travel times many times over.
A network of four vertiports and a partnership with Joby Aviation
Skyports plans to create a network of four vertiports in Dubai, linking the city's key districts and offering an alternative to overloaded road traffic. The first certified hub is located near Dubai International Airport; the second will be built on the Palm Jumeirah artificial island; the locations of the remaining two sites have not yet been announced. The air taxi operator will be the American company Joby Aviation, which is developing a fully electric aircraft with rotating propellers. In 2024 the company signed an exclusive six-year agreement to operate in Dubai and is required to provide the city with a fleet of piloted air taxis.
Contradictory data
There are minor discrepancies in wording and chronology across sources and statements from the parties involved. On the one hand, a number of publications (including 3dnews.ru and itc.ua) emphasize that an air taxi vertiport/terminal has been "opened" or "certified" in Dubai as the first in the world, highlighting the facility's uniqueness. On the other hand, the fact that the site has been certified does not mean that commercial flights will begin immediately: before the service launches, the Joby aircraft themselves must be certified, a fleet deployed, air traffic management issues resolved, and the economic viability of the model confirmed. Joby test flights between the sites were already carried out in November 2025, however, a full launch of the air taxi network in Dubai is still scheduled for 2026, which could make the city the first in the world with an operating urban air taxi network — but this is still a plan, not a completed fact.
What this means for the industry
For the urban air mobility market, the VDX vertiport is not just a building but proof that the regulatory and infrastructure components of the eVTOL ecosystem in the UAE are beginning to form a working system. If Joby Aviation and Skyports meet their deadlines and complete aircraft certification and fleet deployment, Dubai will have an operating air taxi network as early as 2026. This will turn the city into a live testbed for standards that will later be replicated in other megacities and set a benchmark for how low-altitude aviation is integrated into everyday urban logistics.
