Vertiport Sizing and Capacity - About
Multimodal Access for Intelligent Airports - MAIA Project is funded by the EU under the Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme, through the SESAR Joint Undertaking (grant agreement No 101114853).
MAIA will develop a set of data analytics and modelling tools as a basis for two passenger mobility innovations: shared autonomous vehicle fleets and electrical vertical take-off and landing aircraft fleet. The MAIA tools will monitor and anticipate passenger behaviour changes due to these new options, optimise vehicle dispatching under multimodal disruptions, and recommend appropriate locations for vertiports.
MAIA-UAM is a framework for vertiport site selection aiming to improve airport access by balancing passenger experience and foreseen UAM operational constraints. The framework is based on four interrelated pillars:
The Vertiport Sizing and Capacity - VSC Tool contains two functionalities.
The VCA tab allows users to calculate vertiport capacity and area for different vertiport layouts and conduct sensitivity analysis by varying input parameters related to eVTOL design, vertiport operations, and charging scenarios.
For given dimensions of the vertiport candidate site, the PVC tab proposes vertiport layouts that provide the highest throughput under the smallest area.
Vertiport design (FATO, stands/gates, and taxi-ways/routes) is based on EASA's "Prototype Technical Specifications for the Design of VFR Vertiports for Operation with Manned VTOL-Capable Aircraft Certified in the Enhanced Category" (PTS-VPT-DSN), published March 2022. It assumes circular FATO, D-value-based VTOL-capable aircraft stand geometry with simultaneous use (except for pier 1 FATO), and air taxi routes.
