Schneider Electric, a global energy technology leader, has delivered the electrical and digital backbone of Skysports’ VDX, the world's first commercial vertiport at Dubai International Airport. 

The vertiport, which reached technical completion in April 2026, and was certified for eVTOL operations in July 2026, is the first and flagship vertiport in Dubai's planned air taxi network, an Emirates News Agency (WAM) report said. Further vertiports are in development at Dubai Marina, Downtown Dubai, and Palm Jumeirah.

Designed to handle up to 170,000 passengers a year, it represents a new class of transportation. This new class of transportation calls for a new class of energy infrastructure: high-power charging that keeps Joby Aviation’s aircraft ready between flights, electrical systems engineered to aviation-grade safety standards, and real-time intelligence connecting power, charging, and building systems across the facility.

Architecture key elements

The architecture spans digital low-voltage switchboards, a building management system, EcoStruxure Power Operation at VDX integrated with the Dubai Marina Vertiport, ION9000 power quality monitoring, connected power meters, capacitor banks, and Galaxy UPS protecting critical systems.

Every element serves one of three outcomes: Operational resilience keeps the vertiport flight-ready, with real-time visibility into the health of critical power and building systems so potential issues are addressed before they reach operations.

Energy intelligence optimises consumption across the facility and enables aircraft charging that adapts dynamically to demand.

Network scalability

Network scalability turns the vertiport into a blueprint: a standardised digital architecture that shares infrastructure status automatically with flight scheduling and charging systems, and can be replicated at every station that follows.

Once the site is fully operational, Schneider Electric's solutions are expected to deliver energy savings of up to 25% across the facility.

The project supports the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan and its 20-Minute City policy, which envisions a city where residents reach most of their daily destinations within 20 minutes. Journeys that take 45 minutes by road are expected to take approximately 12 minutes by air, placing Dubai among the first cities in the world to make electric air travel part of everyday urban mobility.

Power demands

“Charging electric aircraft creates some pretty significant and rapidly changing power demands,” said Gareth Wilson, General Manager, Dubai, Skyports Infrastructure. “At the same time, the terminal and all of its critical systems need to stay fully operational. We chose Schneider Electric to provide us with power infrastructure that is resilient, responsive and intelligent. Most importantly, the scalable approach gives us something we can replicate across the wider Dubai network. As we continue to add more vertiports, it provides us with a baseline that we can confidently continue to roll out.”

"Our collaboration with Skyports Infrastructure marks a significant step towards redefining the future of urban mobility," said Amel Chadli, Gulf Cluster and Countries President at Schneider Electric."—TradeArabia News Service