Flying Taxi In UAE: First Vertiport At Dubai Airport To Handle 170,000 Passengers A Year

Work on the first vertiport, which is under construction near Dubai International Airport for flying taxis , is progressing at a good pace as foundation work for the landing area has been completed, said a senior official on Wednesday.

In an interview on Wednesday, Reem Al Saffar, acting senior director for air navigation and aerodromes at General Civil Aviation Authority, said the work on parking for Dubai International Vertiport (DXV) building is underway at the moment.

In January, the UAE's first commercial vertiport for flying taxis was named Dubai International Vertiport (DXV) for its location near Dubai International Airport (DXB). DXV is a designated area for the takeoff, landing, and servicing of flying taxis, which are scheduled to start operations in 2026 by US firm Joby.

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A presentation by Al Saffar revealed that the DXV station will have an operational capacity of 170,000 passengers per year and 10 landings per hour.

While speaking on the sidelines of a media briefing on Wednesday, she said the flying taxis will initially operate on fixed routes and in specific locations.

In the first phase, four locations - Dubai Airports, Dubai Marina, Palm Jumeirah, and Downtown have been selected to launch flying taxi services in the emirate.

As reported by Khaleej Times, the first route for flying taxi will be from Dubai International (DXB) to Dubai Marina when service is rolled out in the first quarter of 2026.

The flying taxis will reduce travel time from 45 minutes to only 12 minutes.

She elaborated that regulations are currently in place for healthcare service providers or other entities to convert their helipads to vertipads.

The UAE regulator and flying taxi operators aim to convert many helipads into vertipads as the country will roll out flying taxi operations in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in 2026. The US-based firms Joby and Archer will launch an electric air taxi in the UAE in early 2026 after approval from the regulator.

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