Urban air mobility (UAM) as part of innovative air mobility (IAM) is poised to transform transportation, but several challenges remain. Current airspace management systems were not designed for the complexity of UAM operations, and a lack of standardised procedures for vertiport interactions adds to the difficulty. Additionally, U-space regulatory frameworks are still evolving. There is a need for solutions that can ensure safe, efficient, and scalable integration of vertiports into European airspace.
The EU-funded EUREKA project aims to address these challenges by improving vertiport operations. This includes optimizing arrivals, departures, turnaround times, traffic management, disruption handling, and capacity planning. By bringing together key airport stakeholders and U-space/UAM developers under EUROCONTROL’s leadership, EUREKA Solutions will deliver updated procedures and tools essential for vertiport integration into the airspace. These outcomes will contribute to a significant evolution of the U-space/UAM operational concept, incorporating new standards for both manned and unmanned Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft.
The project focuses on key operational aspects, including:
Defining streamlined arrival, departure, and turnaround processes for vertiports.
Establishing collaborative traffic management frameworks to enhance operational coordination.
Developing tailored strategies for managing disruptions and emergencies in the vertiport environment.
Enhancing the management of vertiport network flow, capacity, and overall operations to ensure scalability.
The EUREKA project will produce widely accepted solutions that can be implemented across all EASA member states, and potentially beyond, by the end of the project. These solutions will include operational procedures and tools consistent with existing regulations, while also extending beyond current standards to accommodate the future needs of both crewed and uncrewed VTOL aircraft. The primary goal is to deliver innovative operational procedures, performance and safety requirements, validation results, and regulatory recommendations, which can be applied effectively in all of Europe. This will accelerate and harmonize the development of UAM, VTOL operations, and vertiport infrastructure across the continent.
The DLR Institute of Flight Guidance is responsible within the EUREKA project for coordinating the scenario definition as well as the planning and evaluation of the validations. In doing so, it ensures that all solutions are optimally harmonized and tested together. During the validation phases, DLR maintains close cooperation with the project partners to ensure transparent processes and enhanced effectiveness. This approach allows for well-founded verification of assumptions and the integration of results into a consistent overall picture. In addition, DLR actively supports the communication and dissemination of the project results.
Key data
Project
EUREKA (European Key solutions for vertiports and UAM)
Participants
EUROCONTROL (Coordinator)
ABIONICA SOLUTIONS SLP
AENA S.M.E. SA
AEROPORTI DI ROMA SPA
AEROPORTS DE PARIS SA
ALLIANCE FOR NEW MOBILITY EUROPE
ANRA TECHNOLOGIES OU
ASOCIACIJA DRONEA
BOEING AEROSPACE SPAIN
CENTRO DE REFERENCIA INVESTIGACION DESARROLLO E INNOVACION ATM, A.I.E.
DEEP BLUE SRL
DEUTSCHES ZENTRUM FUR LUFT - UND RAUMFAHRT EV (DLR) D-FLIGHT SPA
DIRECTION DES SERVICES DE LA NAVIGATION AERIENNE
DRONIQ GMBH
ECOLE NATIONALE DE L AVIATION CIVILE
ENAIRE
ENAV SPA
HOCHSCHULE FUR DEN OFFENTLICHEN DIENST IN BAYERN
HOLOGARDE
INDRA FACTORIA TECNOLOGICA SL
INDRA SISTEMAS SA
INGENIERIA Y ECONOMIA DEL TRANSPORTE SME MP SA
LEONARDO - SOCIETA PER AZIONI
LILIUM GMBH
NEXTANT APPLICATIONS & INNOVATIVE SOLUTION SRL
OPENVIA AIR SL
PIPISTREL VERTICAL SOLUTIONS DOO PODJETJE ZA NAPREDNE LETALSKE RESITVE
SOCIETA' PER AZIONI ESERCIZI AEROPORTUALI SEA
SOUL SOFTWARE SRL
TECHNO SKY SRL TECHNOLOGIES FOR AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT
This project has received funding from the SESAR3 Joint Undertaking under grant agreement No 101114799 under European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme.
