Hyundai Elevator to build rooftop vertiport for urban air taxis

(Hyundai Elevator)

As Korea’s urban air mobility (UAM) industry begins to take off, attention is shifting not only to the flying vehicles but also to the ground infrastructure needed to operate them. While electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft technologies continue to advance, actual operations will require facilities for takeoff, landing, charging, and air traffic control. This has brought the concept of “vertiports,” or urban takeoff-and-landing platforms, into sharper focus.

According to industry sources Wednesday, Hyundai Elevator broke ground this month on a three-story vertical-parking-style vertiport testbed, dubbed “H-PORT,” at its headquarters site in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province. The facility is scheduled for completion by June next year.

The H-PORT will serve as an integrated structure featuring an automated hangar parking system, drone parking and charging zones, and passenger boarding management facilities.

Unlike conventional flat-surface heliport-style vertiports, which require large open areas, Hyundai’s model adopts a stacked design — with the takeoff and landing pad on the upper level, maintenance and charging on the middle level, and passenger lounges on the lower level. This configuration essentially places an airport atop a city building, offering a potential solution to space constraints in high-density urban areas like Seoul and Busan.

“The flat-surface vertiport model is difficult to install in densely populated cities,” an industry official said. “Vertical structures could be the breakthrough solution.”

The H-PORT project, led by Hyundai Elevator, has been designated a national strategic technology initiative by the Korean government. As the lead institution for the “Vertiport and Ground Support System R&D” project, Hyundai is overseeing core tasks such as modular design, site selection standards, and monitoring and control technologies.

Partners including Lotte E&C, POSCO, and Korea National University of Transportation are participating in standardization and verification testing.

Hyundai Elevator plans to expand the business into airport-connected, urban-transfer, and smart-building-type vertiports once the current demonstration is completed. “The key to opening the skies lies in urban infrastructure,” a company official said. “We aim to set the standard for future city mobility.”

The project also aligns with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s K-UAM Grand Challenge roadmap, which recently conducted the second phase of urban flight demonstrations along the Incheon Ara Waterway. Participants including Korean Air, Hyundai Motor, and KT tested low-altitude flight stability, route management, and communication resilience.

However, industry observers note that the absence of UAM-specific regulations and the slow pace of aircraft development remain key challenges. The government has already postponed the target commercialization timeline from 2025 to 2028.

“Government-level support such as regulatory sandboxes will be essential to accelerate commercialization,” another industry source said.