Design Criteria and Accommodating Capacity Analysis of Vertiports for Urban Air Mobility and Its Application at Gimpo Airport in Korea

Abstract

This study establishes design criteria for touchdown and liftoff (TLOF) pads, final approach and takeoff (FATO), safety areas, gates, and taxiways, which are components necessary for the operation of vertiports for urban air mobility (UAM), and analyzed vertiport capacity compliant with the arrangement of the components in a limited space. We used new vertiport design regulations from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for the vertiport design criteria. Vertiport components were sized based on Hyundai Motor’s S-A1 aircraft, and the layouts were classified as linear, satellite, and pier according to the arrangement of the TLOF pad and gate. The characteristics of each layout were analyzed for the same area. Based on these layouts, the parking space of Gimpo Airport that will be used for operating airport shuttles in the Seoul metropolitan area was measured and each layout was arranged to validate the characteristics of the layouts. Using the MATLAB program, we selected the most efficient layout among linear, satellite, and pier layouts, and estimated the TLOF pad and gate utilization rate. In addition, we evaluated the capacity of the two-story vertiport proposed by the Korea Airports Corporation for efficient use of space.

Keywords

• UAM
• vertiport
• eVTOL
• TLOF pad
• FATO
• vertiport layout