World’s smallest airport to be built for autonomous drones

Airports have a reputation for being enormous, labyrinthine nightmares. Especially when you’re quintuple checking your gate of departure, only to end up at the same overpriced store time and again.

However, a more experimental airport is now underway in Coventry, UK, of all places. Unfortunately, it won’t be for humans – its relative size is that of a postage stamp compared to the likes of Charles de Gaulle. Instead, it’s for drones.

Enter tech startup Urban-Air Port. With support from manufacturer Hyundai, they’ve been awarded a £1.2 million ($1.64 million US) grant through the UK government, and their Future Flight Challenge program.

The real objective of the world’s smallest airport is to test how eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) aircraft like delivery drones and air taxis can be integrated into a city’s wider mobility infrastructure. The airport is getting ready to be operational by November 2021.
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