Osakako vertiport unveiled ahead of Japan’s World Expo 2025
March 28, 2025
Osaka Metro has unveiled the new eVTOL take-off and landing facility set to serve Osaka’s upcoming Expo 2025. As part of the event, Japanese eVTOL developer SkyDrive will make demonstration flights from the site with its pre-production SD-05 craft.
The development of the vertiport has been ongoing since Osaka Metro won the bid to build and operate the site back in January 2024. Its name is a reference to ‘Osaka Ko’, the name of the nearest metro station; indicative of an intention to form an integrated mobility service spanning eVTOLs, tube trains, on-demand buses and provision for bicycles.
Located at Osaka Port’s Chuo pier, the vertiport includes a hangar for the maintenance and storage of eVTOLs, a passenger facility, and a takeoff and landing area. Although marked with a circular ‘aiming point’ (with a yellow walkway presumably indicating a passenger pathway), the overall rectangular tarmac area appears to allow additional space either side. The total area of the vertiport and all its facilities is some 12,000m2.
During the upcoming expo (running from April until October 2025), Skydrive is expected to operate demonstration flights from the facility with its three-seat SD-05. Although Skydrive had initially intended to make commercial flights during the event, in June 2024 this was revised to demonstration flights only, with SkyDrive CEO Tomohiro Fukuzawa citing unspecified safety concerns of operating customer-carrying services.
Texas-based Lift aircraft will also bring its single-occupant ‘Hexa’ multicopter to Osaka World Expo, with Japan to become the aircraft’s first market outside of the US. Having completed a series of demonstration flights in five Japanese cities, Chinese OEM eHang will also be showcasing its autonomously-operate, two-seat EH216 eVTOL. It is unclear whether these two platforms will use the same vertiport.
From mid-April onwards, the vertiport will also serve host events intended to engage with the general public; showcasing the development of eVTOL technology and offering visitors the opportunity to board a mock-up aircraft.
In April 2024, SkyDrive and Osaka Metro also signed an agreement to collaborate on the ongoing use of SkyDrive’s SD-05 aircraft after the event’s conclusion, with SkyDrive proposing four initial routes in December to connect Osaka destinations from 2028.
