Determining infrastructure requirements for an air taxi service at Cologne Bonn Airport

The worldwide increasing population density in major urban centres poses great challenges for transportation systems. Air taxi services could be a solution to this growing problem by bringing the existing transportation system to the three dimensional space. This paper analyzes the challenges and requirements of developing a vertiport intended for the use of air taxis at Cologne Bonn Airport. This research was conducted with the information available at the time of writing, for which a basis scenario is defined for the Cologne Bonn Airport where important aspects of an air taxi service are determined such as passenger demand and possible vehicles. The main aspects analysed were the requirements on the vertiport infrastructure and its location, as well as the requirements on passenger processing. For the defined basis scenario, results show that the preferential locations to develop a vertiport at Cologne Bonn Airport are the roof top levels of parking garages P2 and P3. Furthermore, it is shown that given the estimated passenger demand, a very high utilization factor of the defined infrastructure is to be expected. This paper provides a starting point for the development of an air taxi service at Cologne Bonn Airport. Further research is needed in key issues such as the financial aspects of an air taxi service, its integration into the current operating scenario of the Cologne Bonn Airport and the approval process for an air taxi service and the vertiport itself.