Osaka World Expo opens with SkyDrive demo flight
April 14, 2025
As the Osaka World Expo opens its doors, Japanese eVTOL developer SkyDrive has conducted a remotely-piloted demonstration flight of its SD-05 aircraft, with members of the public able to experience a ground-based mockup over the coming weeks and months.
As part of the ‘Smart Mobility Expo,’ a part of the ‘Future Society Showcase Project,’ SkyDrive was selected in February 2023 (among other eVTOL operators) to participate in the six-month-long event held around Yumeshima Island. “Since then, as we dedicated ourselves to the development of our aircraft, we have targeted flights at the Expo as one of our most important development milestones,” explained SkyDrive.
During the demonstration flight conducted from the Expo’s custom-built vertiport, the SD-05 prototype flew at an altitude of around five metres for around four minutes in total. Unveiled last month, the vertiport (named ‘Osaka Ko’ in reference to the closest metro station) also included a maintenance hangar, a passenger facility, and provision for bicycles.
Point-to-point and roundtrip flights of the SD-05 are also planned for later this summer, setting the foundations for SkyDrive’s future plans to operate proposed eVTOL routes connecting “four key” Osaka destinations. “Flights will be conducted between the Expo Vertiport and off-site ports using AAM [aircraft], as well as flights around the waterfront area surrounding the venue,” explained the exhibition organisers.
Working in partnership with Osaka Metro to bring these demonstration flights into commercial service, this so-called ‘Osaka Diamond Route’ could see commercial eVTOL services introduced in the Morinomiya area from around 2028, subsequently expanding operations through 2030 and beyond.
From this week onwards, SkyDrive will also display a full-scale mockup of the SD-05 at the exhibition’s ‘Advanced Air Mobility Station,’ based within the Expo’s ‘Empowering Lives Zone’. Aircraft from Joby, Archer, Vertical Aerospace and Lift Aircraft are also displayed on the exhibition’s signage, while eHang also intends to showcase its autonomously-operated, two-seat EH216.
Other participants in the Smart Mobility Expo include a hydrogen fuel cell-powered ship and an electric bus.
