Kansai Firms Partnering with SkyDrive

Akihabara News (Tokyo) — eVTOL-maker SkyDrive is finding willing partners among the Kansai region’s railway and tourism firms as partnerships with both Kintetsu Group Holdings and Nankai Electric Railway have been announced in rapid succession.

Kintetsu has decided to invest ¥500 million (US$4 million) into the eVTOL startup, eyeing a future air taxi service between Osaka and Ise-Shima in Mie Prefecture, where Kintetsu owns tourism assets, including a railway line.

Kintetsu President Toshihide Ogura commented, “In the future, the convenience of transportation will be improved by creating links with existing transportation such as railways. Community development will be centered on takeoff and landing sites. With consideration for the attractiveness of tourist destinations and associated leisure activities, we will contribute to the creation of an engaging society through ‘flying cars.'”

Similarly, Nankai, which owns a railway line running between Osaka and Wakayama, also foresees an air taxi route in its region of interest, and is making an early tie-up with SkyDrive.

Studies will be conducted on the possible routes that the air taxi services might utilize. There is also thought being given to Nankai’s role in marketing and offering ticket sales services, providing for the maintenance for vertiports, as well as the future split in costs and revenues.

All of these efforts are likely to launch at the time of, or shortly after, the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, which is conceived as being the debut event for the eVTOL industry in Japan, with members of the public being provided their first opportunity to personally experience eVTOL flights from Osaka Port and Universal Studios Japan to the expo site on the manmade island of Yumeshima.