Quick Sizing, Throughput Estimating and Layout Planning for VTOL Aerodromes – A Methodology for Vertiport Design

In recent years there has been a growing interest in introducing air travel into cities as an alternative mode of transport with substantially shorter travel times than conventional transportation. For this vision to become available for the general public a high volume of operations will need to take place on limited space in highly constrained inner-city areas. This paper introduces a method to find suitable areas for vertiports, estimate possible throughput and aid the layout planning process. It seeks to shed light on the question which magnitudes of throughput are possible in inner-city environments under a variety of processing times, vehicle sizes and vertiport topologies. This Vertiport Sizing Method enables the user to quickly select a location from street maps, calculate the optimal composition of vertiport elements and design a concrete layout for the vertiport – all within a few minutes – and therefore aims to pave the way for enhanced vertiport network studies.