Skyports and Korean Air partner on eVTOL ops tech
Above: (left to right) Kim Kyung-nam and Ankit Dass signing the MoU at DSK 2026.
Courtesy Skyports
The partnership was announced as a part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two parties, which was signed on the 26th of February during Drone Show Korea (DSK) 2026. The MoU was signed between Ankit Dass, Chief Technology Officer, Skyports Infrastructure and Kyung-Nam Kim, Managing V.P, Head of R&D Centre, Korean Air.
The new solution will bring together leading technologies that both organisations already have in development – Skyports’ Vertiport Automation System (VAS) will support core vertiport operational capabilities, while Korean Air’s Air Control & Routing Orchestrated Skyway System (ACROSS) platform will contribute flight operations and traffic management expertise.
The partnership will explore approaches to technical alignment to support future interoperability between Skyport’s VAS and flight operations systems.
The development of the system will involve testing and validation, including joint demonstrations and pilot programmes related to vertiport operations and AAM integration, with the longer-term ambition of supporting scalable solutions for the emerging AAM industry.
Together Skyports and Korean Air bring unique, complementing areas of expertise. One of the world’s long-established airlines, Korean Air specialises in existing flight operations control and traffic management systems, while Skyports specialises in vertiport technologies and operational know-how, with vertiport networks under development around the globe. Its Dubai vertiport network is planning commercial eVTOL operations before the end of 2026 and it is constructing a parallel network in Abu Dhabi. It also operates the world’s busiest commercial heliport in New York City, Downtown Skyport, which it is transitioning to AAM and is developing Korea’s first vertiport network in Jeju Island, which will see commercial operations in 2028.
Commenting on the MoU signing, Ankit Dass, Chief Technology Officer, Skyports, said: “Whilst eVTOL aircraft development is progressing at a good pace, there are still various unknowns around how they would operate and navigate effectively in the real world environment.
"This partnership with Korean Air reflects our shared vision to create the technologies and operational frameworks needed to bring Advanced Air Mobility to life. With Skyports having a vertiport network under development in Dubai, where the world’s first full-scale commercial eVTOL service is planned, alongside developing Korea’s first AAM network in Jeju Island, we have highly relevant future contexts for potential applications of such technologies."
Kwang-Oh Moon, Head of Future Technology Development Center, Korean Air, said: “ACROSS aims to provide seamless services in both flight operation control and low-altitude air traffic management once AAM aircraft are commercialised.
"From a systems perspective, close integration with vertiports, which will assume the role of traditional airports for commercial aviation, is critically important. The synergy between Skyports’s infrastructure and Korea Air’s ACROSS will set the global standard for AAM operations.”
