The Montreal company VPorts wants to create a network of infrastructures intended to accommodate electric “flying taxis” which would transport goods and medical equipment in the regions of Quebec by 2030. A project whose bill would amount to around 150 million dollars, according to the company. The young shoot will however have to face several challenges, if it wants this project to see the light of day.
Founded less than a year ago, VPorts thinks big. The company’s founder and CEO, Fethi Chebil, presented his plan to set up a Quebec network of “vertiports” – airport infrastructures intended for electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft – during a press conference organized Tuesday at the Palais des Congrès in Montreal, on the occasion of the Aero Montreal International Aerospace Innovation Forum.
Vports has already targeted several sites that could accommodate its infrastructure. According to a map presented to media representatives on Tuesday, the company plans to set up in “locations that optimize the connectivity of multimodal transport”, such as Mirabel, which is already home to Mirabel Hélico, as well as Longueuil, where the airport of Saint -Hubert.
The young shoot is also targeting agglomerations such as Quebec, Sherbrooke, Gatineau, Trois-Rivières or Rimouski, in addition to locations in Nord-du-Québec, such as Chibougamau, Kuujjuarapik or Umiujjaq. VPorts reports that it is already in discussions with certain cities, in particular Trois-Rivières and Longueuil, and intends to communicate soon with the other cities targeted for the deployment of its project.
The company also wants to create a “vertiport operations command center” in Quebec that would “manage the integration of air traffic control and establish communication protocols between eVTOLS aircraft and vertiports”.
Initially, this network of vertiports would be intended for the transport of goods and medical equipment, but Mr. Chebil does not exclude that these installations could later be converted to allow the transport of people.
“By 2030, we think that about 150 million dollars will be needed to install and deploy this network,” said Mr. Chebil. “We rely on a public-private partnership. We don’t want the government to pay the whole thing, but we want it to get involved, as is done all over the world,” adds this former member of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). “Afterwards, we also want to get another $200 million for the rest of the development from 2030 to 2045, which will make it possible to extend the network in Quebec. »
Challenges to overcome
In parallel with its project to deploy fifteen infrastructures in Quebec by 2030, the company also aims to “build and operate 1,500 vertiports in the world by 2045”. For the moment, Vports has already started by establishing itself in Brazil, where the company will build and operate for 40 years a vertiport at the international airport of São Paulo. Construction of the site should be completed by the end of 2023, the company estimates.
But while the company’s aspirations are far-reaching, the challenges ahead are still daunting – for example, the regulations surrounding these new devices do not yet exist.
Also, the company, which hopes to create 1,000 jobs in Quebec, will have to juggle the labor shortage and the competition for talent.
Already, within the next 10 years, the Quebec aerospace sector will have to fill more than 38,000 jobs and more than 30 categories of professional positions are or will be in short supply within two years, according to the latest census of the Sectoral Labor Committee. in aerospace (CAMAQ).
Moreover, the development of the sector remains somewhat uncertain. In May 2021, Morgan Stanley Research estimated that the market value could reach US$12 billion by 2030 – a 75% drop from what it expected in 2018, when it judged at this time that the market could be worth 45 billion by the end of the decade.
Skeptics about the future of this sector will be confounded, believes Mr. Chebil. “There is no doubt about the potential and economic impact of this industry,” he said.
“The question is: when will the regulator adapt and when will we see these machines fly? »
On Thursday, the company announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with a consortium of organizations – including Aéro Montréal, the Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance (NUAIR), Innovitech, the Center of Excellence on Drones (Alma) and Helijet International – “with a view to setting up air corridors intended for electric advanced air mobility (AAM), which will connect Quebec and the United States”.