One of the most striking aspects of advanced air mobility is its collaborative nature. Tara Craig profiles three of the partnerships Bluenest is using to drive the emerging sector.
With so much being written about vertiports and electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, it is easy to forget this is a new industry and that the skills and technical know-how necessary to take it from the drawing board to the sky are not necessarily found in a single company. To that end, firms are increasingly teaming up with one another, combining distinct skill sets in the pursuit of a common goal.
Madrid-based Bluenest is one such company. The advanced air mobility (AAM) business line of Globalvia, a transport infrastructure concessions and mobility services provider, Bluenest specialises in vertiport design. Recent months have seen it team up with a number of like-minded operators.
Stakeholders celebrate the Reserva Conchal flight, undertaken by the first unmanned eVTOL certified for passenger transportation
Weather management
The ongoing collaboration between Bluenest and DM-AirTech dates back to May 2023, when Bluenest’s vertiport management system integrated the weather management system VertiMonitor. A recent memorandum of understanding (MoU) has seen the companies make public their plans to work collaboratively towards technological enhancements and commercialisation.
DM-AirTech is a Hamburg-based start-up, launched in 2021 by two former Airbus engineers determined to build a technology able to fill the urban wind gap and enable safe flight operations in an urban environment. Since 2021, DMAirTech has incorporated weather intelligence into AAM stakeholders’ business planning. This intelligence covers everything from demand and service availability analysis to vertiport siting due-diligence. The company is currently preparing to support the flight operations of drones and eVTOLs by means of its high-resolution and urban-aware weather forecasts.
“DM-AirTech is a great asset,” said José Ignacio Rodríguez, CEO of Bluenest by Globalvia, continuing, “and the right partner for assessing our first sites and vertiport designs, validating strategically the air routes with timely accurate meteorological forecasts and guaranteeing safe clearance for take-off and landing operations in the tactical phase”.
“We are eager to continue our fruitful co-operation in R&D projects and real vertiport tests relying on the best data for the best decision-making.”
The agreement was signed by Jose Luis Quirós of Pegasus Aero Group, CATEC’s Joaquín Rodríguez and Bluenest by Globalvia's José Ignacio Rodríguez of
Validation and testing
Last year saw Bluenest form an alliance with Pegasus Aero Group and CATEC (Centro Avanzado de Tecnologías Aeroespaciales / the Advanced Centre for Aerospace Technologies). The trio committed to jointly developing a centre dedicated to the validation and testing
of drones in AAM.
This centre, which will be located in Aerópolis (Seville), will mainly develop projects for testing unmanned platforms, installations and services in vertiports and flight tests with drones in urban areas. According to the partners, its activities will complement other UAS and AAM initiatives already under way in Seville.
State-of-the-art facilities will include a dedicated section of the heliport of Pegasus subsidiary SEILAF (Sistema de Entrenamiento Integrado de Lucha Antiincendios Forestales / System of Integrated Forestry Fire Protection System), where CATEC researchers will conduct flight tests, avionics checks, payloads, maintenance operations and drone pilot training, among other things.
Infrastructure and IT engineers from Bluenest will develop an advanced operational solution for vertiports for large autonomous drones and electric passenger aircraft, while Pegasus will bring to the project its extensive experience as an operator of manned and – soon – unmanned aircraft, for the development of procedures and support in the management of permits.
In regulatory terms, the partners’ main focus will be on the validation of infrastructure and drones specifically designed for urban aerial mobility, for use in applications ranging from parcel delivery and traffic surveillance to air taxis and infrastructure inspection. Bluenest, Pegasus Aero Group and CATEC will also work to incorporate AI systems and universities into the project.
Bluenest’s José Ignacio Rodríguez said of the partnership: “We consider this strategic alliance with companies with which we already collaborate in several initiatives and projects in Andalusia and other regions to be very relevant. By joining forces with natural and strategic partners in urban air mobility, we multiply the results and scope.”
The EH216 took off from and landed on the heliport at Reserva Conchal
The magic number
Latin America may be slower than the likes of Asia to jump on the AAM bandwagon, but that may be about to change, thanks to a strategic partnership between Bluenest by Globalvia, Guanacaste Airport (operated by Vinci Airports) and Reserva Conchal, an eco-friendly resort owned by FIFO, a Costa Rican firm specialising in food and beverages, retail and hospitality. The partners intend to make Costa Rica a Latin American AAM pioneer and to promote sustainability in the country.
The new initiative was marked by the inaugural eVTOL demonstration flight in Latin America. An EHang EH216 – the first unmanned eVTOL certified for passenger transportation – took off from the Reserva Conchal heliport, flying over the golf course, the coast, the sea and
a large section of the resort.
Specific advanced air mobility use cases proposed for Costa Rica by the three companies include tourist routes with panoramic views, faster transfers from the airport to the centre of the country and the urgent delivery of medicines in remote areas.
The launch of the partnership also focused on communication of the potential benefits AAM could bring to both a substantial proportion of the Costa Rican population and visitors to the country. Launch attendees heard what the travel experience would be like for someone using AAM to travel from one end of the country to the other, including the phases they would go through, from boarding the aircraft to landing at their destination – in other words, the vertiport experience.
European Mobility Week saw Bluenest by Globalvia work with the Hospital de Cantoblanco to investigate the use of drones in emergency logistics
The demonstration flight was supervised by inspectors from the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC) of Costa Rica and is considered the first step towards a more ambitious and common objective: promoting sustainability and innovation in Costa Rica, guaranteeing a better quality of life and well-being for the country’s citizens through the potential and advantages that eVTOLs can bring to mobility.
Fernando Vallejo Lázaro, director of innovation, IT and sustainability at Globalvia, said: “Sustainability and innovation are the two fundamental pillars that govern Globalvia’s strategy and sustainable advanced air mobility brings together both qualities. We are convinced that Costa Rica is the perfect place to develop this mobility of the future. Making this milestone a reality, thanks to the collaboration with our partners, reflects our firm commitment to the project and this region.”
Lázaro’s sentiments were echoed by Bluenest CEO Rodríguez, who added: “We are satisfied and proud to have contributed to a milestone in advanced and sustainable air mobility in the Latin American region, with the first flight of an unmanned electric aircraft for passengers. Our first validations of vertiports outside Spain, with the invaluable support of the DGAC, Reserva Conchal and Guanacaste Airport, are a great step for Bluenest and for the region in our common desire to offer safer, more efficient, quieter and sustainable mobility to visitors and residents. We see in the Guanacaste region and the partners of this event the perfect combination to make the mobility of the future a reality very soon.”
Guanacaste Airport – also known as Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport – is one of just four international airports in Costa Rica. According to general manager César Jaramillo, this project meets both the sustainability and development objectives of the Guanacaste region and Vinci Airports’ roadmap for decarbonising aviation.
An EH216 during a demonstration flight at Reserva Conchal in Costa Rica
