Urban Air Mobility Vertiports: A Bibliometric Analysis of Applications, Challenges, and Emerging Directions
Source abstract
Abstract
Vertiports, as the foundational ground infrastructure for Urban Air Mobility (UAM), have garnered increasing scholarly attention in recent years. To examine how the existing literature has reviewed and summarized vertiport-related knowledge, this study conducts a bibliometric analysis of publications (2000–2024) from four major databases, including Web of Science and Scopus, using VOSviewer and CiteSpace. By analyzing co-citation and keyword co-occurrence patterns, the results suggest that vertiport research frontiers are shifting toward facility location, network planning, airspace and scheduling management, scalable infrastructure, and integration with ground transport systems. Scholars and institutions in the United States, China, Europe, and South Korea have taken leading roles in advancing this field, though collaboration among research organizations still requires strengthening. Overall, the findings reveal future research pathways and provide support for the planning and integration of vertiport infrastructure in UAM operations.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Vehicle emissions and performance · Transportation Planning and Optimization · Air Quality and Health Impacts
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
College of Civil Aviation, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 211106, China
State Key Laboratory of Air Traffic Management Systems, Nanjing 211106, China
Department of Aviation and Technology, College of Engineering, San Jose State University, One Washington Square, San Jose, CA 95192-0061, USA
Funding
Natural Science Foundation of China · Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province
References (100+)
Show source-provided references
1. UN-Habitat (2022). World Cities Report 2022: Envisaging the Future of Cities, United Nations Human Settlements Programme. Available online: https://unhabitat.org/world-cities-report-2022.
2. Serok, N., Havlin, S., and Blumenfeld Lieberthal, E. (2022). Identification, cost evaluation, and prioritization of urban traffic congestions and their origin. Sci. Rep., 12.10.1038/s41598-022-17404-8 ↗
3. Reiche, C., Goyal, R., Cohen, A., Serrao, J., Kimmel, S., Fernando, C., and Shaheen, S. (2018). Urban Air Mobility Market Study, Transportation Sustainability Research Center.
4. Regulatory framework on the UAM operational concepts of the ASSURED-UAM project10.1108/AEAT-01-2022-0021 ↗
5. Urban Air Mobility Industry Outlook
6. How to Operate UAM in Megacities Using Korean Positioning System
7. Airbus (2019). Urban Air Mobility Innovation Days 2019, Airbus S.A.S.. Available online: https://www.airbus.com/sites/g/files/jlcbta136/files/2021-10/D02-02-Urban-Air-Mobility-Innovation-Days-2019.pdf.
8. Ryu, C., Kim, S., and Do, S. (2022). A Study on Finding Partners through Patent Network Analysis of UAM (Urban Air Mobility). Appl. Sci., 12.10.3390/app122110705 ↗
9. Urban Air Mobility News (2024). Skyportz and FlyNow Aviation Partner to Develop Vertiports Designed for eCopter Operations, Urban Air Mobility News. Available online: https://www.urbanairmobilitynews.com/business-partnerships/skyportz-and-flynow-aviation-partner-to-develop-vertiports-designed-for-ecopter-operations/.
10. Volocopter (2022). Europe’s First Vertiport Testbed for Urban Air Mobility in Paris, Volocopter GmbH. Available online: https://www.volocopter.com/en/newsroom/vertiport-testbed-for-eu-uam-paris.
11. Urban-Air Port (2022). Urban-Air Port & LG Reveal Next Generation Vertiport, Urban-Air Port. Available online: https://www.urbanairport.com/uap-blog/urban-air-port-amp-lg-reveal-next-generation-vertiport.
12. Schweiger, K., and Preis, L. (2022). Urban Air Mobility: Systematic Review of Scientific Publications and Regulations for Vertiport Design and Operations. Drones, 6.10.3390/drones6070179 ↗
13. New infrastructures for Urban Air Mobility systems: A systematic review on vertiport location and capacity10.1016/j.jairtraman.2023.102460 ↗
14. Laghrib, F., Maïzi, Y., and Frayret, J.-M. (2024, January 9–11). Analysis and Classification of eVTOL and Vertiport Literature: Gaps and Future Research Directions. Proceedings of the 2024 International Conference on Smart-Digital-Green Technologies and Artificial Intelligence Sciences (CSDGAIS), Galala, Egypt.10.1109/CSDGAIS64098.2024.11063662 ↗
15. Integrating vertiports into Australian airports-A comparative literature review of regulatory frameworks from CASA, FAA, and EASA10.1016/j.tranpol.2025.07.035 ↗
16. Di Mascio, P., Del Serrone, G., and Moretti, L. (2025). Vertiports: The Infrastructure Backbone of Advanced Air Mobility—A Review. Eng., 6.10.3390/eng6050093 ↗
17. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2020). Advancing Aerial Mobility: A National Blueprint, National Academies Press.
18. Patterson, M. (2022, January 7). Advanced Air Mobility (AAM): An Overview and Sustainability & Integration Considerations. Proceedings of the Advanced Air Mobility and Unmanned Aircraft Systems Seminar, Manassas, VA, USA. Available online: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20220009878/downloads/2022-07-07%20AAM%20Intro%20for%20Manassas%20Airport.pdf.
19. Homola, J., and Johnson, M. (2022, January 15–17). An Overview of Advanced Air Mobility Research at NASA. Proceedings of the International Workshop on ATM/CNS (IWAC 2022), Nara, Japan.
20. Thipphavong, D.P., Apaza, R., Barmore, B., Battiste, V., Burian, B., Dao, Q., Feary, M., Go, S., Goodrich, K.H., and Homola, J. (2018, January 25–29). Urban air mobility airspace integration concepts and considerations. Proceedings of the 2018 Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference, Atlanta, GA, USA.10.2514/6.2018-3676 ↗
21. Holden, J., and Goel, N. (2016). Fast-Forwarding to a Future of On-Demand Urban Air Transportation, Uber Technologies Inc.. Available online: https://uberpubpolicy.medium.com/fast-forwarding-to-a-future-of-on-demand-urban-air-transportation-f6ad36950ffa.
22. Urban air mobility: History, ecosystem, market potential, and challenges10.1109/TITS.2021.3082767 ↗
23. A review of urban air mobility-enabled intelligent transportation systems: Mechanisms, applications and challenges10.1016/j.sysarc.2023.102902 ↗
24. Hill, B.P., DeCarme, D., Metcalfe, M., Griffin, C., Wiggins, S., Metts, C., Bastedo, B., Patterson, M.D., and Mendonca, N.L. (2025, September 28). UAM Vision Concept of Operations (ConOps): UAM Maturity Level (UML) 4, Available online: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20205011091/downloads/UAM%20Vision%20Concept%20of%20Operations%20UML-4%20v1.0.pdf.
25. FAA (2025, September 28). Engineering Brief No. 105A, Vertiport Design, Available online: https://www.faa.gov/airports/engineering/engineering_briefs/drafts.
26. European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) (2022). Vertiports – Hubs for VTOLs Such as Air Taxis and Drones, EASA. Available online: https://www.easa.europa.eu/en/light/topics/vertiports-urban-environment.
27. Seeley, B.A. (2017, January 5–9). Regional Sky Transit IV: Pocket Airpark Design Constraints. Proceedings of the 17th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference, Denver, CO, USA.10.2514/6.2017-3440 ↗
28. Application of munich agile concepts for MBSE as a holistic and systematic design of urban air mobility in case of design of vertiports and vertistops10.1017/pds.2021.50 ↗
29. Johnston, T., Riedel, R., and Sahdev, S. (2020). To Take Off, Flying Vehicles First Need Places to Land, McKinsey Center for Future Mobility.
30. Wisk, S. (2025, September 28). Concept of Operations: Autonomous UAM Aircraft Operations and Vertiport Integration. Available online: https://wisk.aero/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-04-12-Wisk-Skyports-ConOps-Autonomous-eVTOL-Operations-FINAL.pdf.
31. Lineberger, R., Hussain, A., Metcalfe, M., and Rutgers, V. (2019). Infrastructure Barriers to the Elevated Future of Mobility, Deloitte Ser. Future Mobil.
32. Schweiger, K., Knabe, F., and Korn, B. (2021, January 2–6). Urban air mobility: Vertidrome airside level of service concept. Proceedings of the AIAA Aviation 2021 Forum, Virtual Event.10.2514/6.2021-3201 ↗
33. Federal Aviation Administration (2023). Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Concept of Operations v1.0, FAA.
34. Solanki, B., Sanders, P., Miller, E., Paudyal, P., Rathod, B., Abraham, S.A., Young, M., Fernandes Tomon Avelino, A., Padullaparti, H.V., and Cary, S. (2023). Federal Aviation Administration Vertiport Electrical Infrastructure Study, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).10.2172/2203520 ↗
35. Mendonca, N., Murphy, J., Patterson, M.D., Alexander, R., Juarex, G., and Harper, C. (July, January 27). Advanced air mobility vertiport considerations: A list and overview. Proceedings of the AIAA AVIATION 2022 Forum, Chicago, IL, USA.10.2514/6.2022-4073 ↗
36. Vertiport, A. (2025, September 28). High-Density Automated Vertiport Concept of Operations, Available online: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20210016168/downloads/20210016168_MJohnson_VertiportAtmtnConOpsRprt_final_corrected.pdf.
37. Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance (NUAIR) (2025, October 09). Vertiport Automation Software Architecture and Requirements, Available online: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20210019083.
38. Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance (NUAIR) (2025, October 09). Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Vertiport Automation Trade Study, Available online: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20210009757/downloads/20210009757_MAJohnson_VertiportTradeStudy_final.pdf.
39. Spirkovska, L. (2025, October 09). Vertiport Dynamic Density, Available online: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20230012622/downloads/Vertiport_Dynamic_Density-TM-20230012622.pdf.
40. Ellis, K.K., Prinzel, L.J., Davies, M.D., Homola, J., Glaab, L., Krois, P., Oza, N., Mah, R., Stephens, C.L., and Vincent, M. (2023, January 12–16). An in-time aviation safety management system (IASMS) concept of operations for vertiport design and operations. Proceedings of the AIAA AVIATION 2023 Forum, San Diego, CA, USA.10.2514/6.2023-3965 ↗
41. EASA (2022). Prototype Technical Design Specifications for Vertiports (PTS-VPT-DSN), European Union Aviation Safety Agency.
42. ICAO (2021). Annex 14 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, Volume II: Heliports, International Civil Aviation Organization.
43. ICAO (2024). Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Workshops and SkyTalks, European Union Aviation Safety Agency.
44. Skyports Ltd (2021). Skyports to Develop Europe’s First Test Vertiport in Paris, Skyports. Available online: https://skyports.net/skyports-to-develop-europes-first-test-vertiport-in-paris/.
45. Skyports (2025, September 28). Skyports and Bicester Motion Break Ground at UK Vertiport. Available online: https://www.businessairportinternational.com/news/skyports-opens-vertiport-at-bicester-motion-oxfordshire.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com.
46. (Urban Air Mobility News, 2024). UAE News. China’s Civil Airports Association publishes new vertiport standards, Urban Air Mobility News.
47. EHang (2025, September 28). EHang Launches UAM Hub at Luogang Central Park in Hefei. Available online: https://www.ehang.com/news/1135.htm.
48. UrbanV (2025, September 28). UrbanV and Korea Airports Corporation Join Forces to Develop an Advanced Air Mobility Ecosystem. Available online: https://www.urbanv.com/en/urbanv-and-korea-airports-corporation-join-forces-to-develop-an-advanced-air-mobility-ecosystem/.
49. Korea, B. (2025, September 28). Hyundai Elevator to Develop Vertiport for UAM Aircraft. Available online: https://www.businesskorea.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=217130.
50. Knowledge mapping: Getting started with knowledge management10.1201/1078/43189.16.4.19990901/31199.3 ↗
51. The methodology function of CiteSpace mapping knowledge domains
52. Bibliometric computational mapping analysis of publications on mechanical engineering education using vosviewer
53. Liang, Y., You, J., Wang, R., Qin, B., and Han, S. (2024). Urban Transportation Data Research Overview: A Bibliometric Analysis Based on CiteSpace. Sustainability, 16.10.3390/su16229615 ↗
54. A systematic review of transportation carbon emissions based on CiteSpace10.1007/s11356-023-26533-0 ↗
55. FAA (2025, September 28). Memorandum Subject to Engineering Brief No. 105, Vertiport Design, Available online: https://www.faa.gov/airports/engineering/engineering_briefs/drafts/media/eb-105-vertiport-design-industry-draft.pdf.
56. EASA (2025, September 28). Guidebook for Urban Air Mobility Integration Process Management. Available online: https://www.easa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/dfu/airmour_-_d6.4_guidebook_for_uam_integration_process_management.pdf.
57. China Civil Aviation Association (2025, October 09). Technical Requirements for Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing Aircraft (eVTOL) Landing Fields, China eVTOL News, Available online: https://www.chinaevtolnews.com/p/document-technical-requirements-for.
58. Recommendation of navigation performance for K-UAM considering multipath error in urban environment operation
59. Cho, S., Kim, H., Chung, J., and Shin, D. (2025). Analysis of Drone Flight Stability for Building a Korean Urban Air Traffic (K-UAM) Delivery System. Appl. Sci., 15.10.3390/app15158492 ↗
60. Madi, R., and Madi, N. (2024, January 9–11). Integrating Flying Taxis: Dubai’s Pioneering Efforts. Proceedings of the Global Congress on Emerging Technologies (GCET-2024), Gran Canaria, Spain.10.1109/GCET64327.2024.10934459 ↗
61. Alogayell, H.M., Kamal, A., Alkadi, I.I., Ramadan, R.H., and Ramadan, M.S. (2024). Geospatial modeling of optimal zones for sustainable urbanization in southwestern NEOM, Saudi Arabia using geomatics techniques. Front. Built Environ., 10.10.3389/fbuil.2024.1379269 ↗
62. Ellis, K., Krois, P., Koelling, J., Prinzel, L., Davies, M., and Mah, R. (19–21, January 11–15). A concept of operations (ConOps) and design considerations for an in-time aviation safety management system (IASMS) for advanced air mobility (AAM). Proceedings of the AIAA SciTech Forum, Virtual Event.
63. Zelinski, S. (2020, January 11–15). Operational analysis of vertiport surface topology. Proceedings of the 2020 AIAA/IEEE 39th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC), San Antonio, TX, USA.10.1109/DASC50938.2020.9256794 ↗
64. Onat, E.B. (2024). Urban Air Mobility: Infrastructure and Operations, University of California, Berkeley.
65. Yedavalli, P., Burak Onat, E., Peng, X., Sengupta, R., Waddell, P., Bulusu, V., and Xue, M. (2025, September 28). Simuam: A Comprehensive Microsimulation Toolchain to Evaluate the Impact of Urban Air Mobility in Metropolitan Areas, Available online: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20220006884/downloads/20220006884_Xue_Aviation2022_manuscript_final.pdf.
66. Su, P.-Y., Maheshwari, C., Tuck, V.M., and Sastry, S. (2024, January 16–19). Incentive-compatible vertiport reservation in advanced air mobility: An auction-based approach. Proceedings of the 2024 IEEE 63rd Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), Milan, Italy.10.1109/CDC56724.2024.10886225 ↗
67. Fleet and vertiport sizing for an urban air mobility commuting service10.1177/03611981231216977 ↗
68. A data-driven approach for performance evaluation of autonomous evtols10.1109/TAES.2024.3493853 ↗
69. Scalable Combinatorial Vertiport Placement Method for an Urban Air Mobility Commuting Service10.1177/03611981241239654 ↗
70. Preis, L., and Hornung, M. (2022). Vertiport operations modeling, agent-based simulation and parameter value specification. Electronics, 11.10.3390/electronics11071071 ↗
71. Preis, L., and Hornung, M. (2022). A vertiport design heuristic to ensure efficient ground operations for urban air mobility. Appl. Sci., 12.10.3390/app12147260 ↗
72. Vertiport Performance Analysis for On-Demand Urban Air Mobility Operation in Seoul Metropolitan Area10.1007/s42405-022-00505-z ↗
73. Optimal vertiport locations for air taxi services in seoul metropolitan area10.1007/s42405-024-00807-4 ↗
74. Vertiport planning for urban aerial mobility: An adaptive discretization approach10.1287/msom.2022.1148 ↗
75. Urban air mobility network design and operations strategy in an urban agglomeration10.1016/j.tre.2025.104316 ↗
76. Assessing the resilience of multi-modal transportation networks with the integration of urban air mobility10.1016/j.tra.2025.104465 ↗
77. Utilizing eVTOL aircraft to alleviate traffic congestion on an arterial road10.1109/TITS.2025.3553817 ↗
78. Vascik, P.D., and Hansman, R.J. (2019, January 7–11). Development of vertiport capacity envelopes and analysis of their sensitivity to topological and operational factors. Proceedings of the AIAA Scitech 2019 Forum, San Diego, CA, USA.10.2514/6.2019-0526 ↗
79. Vascik, P.D., and Hansman, R.J. (2018, January 25–29). Scaling constraints for urban air mobility operations: Air traffic control, ground infrastructure, and noise. Proceedings of the 2018 Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference, Atlanta, GA, USA.10.2514/6.2018-3849 ↗
80. A cost-efficiency analysis of drones in revolutionizing intra-city express services10.1016/j.aei.2025.103324 ↗
81. Integrated optimisation of strategic planning and service operations for urban air mobility systems10.1016/j.tra.2024.104059 ↗
82. An overview of current research and developments in urban air mobility–Setting the scene for UAM introduction10.1016/j.jairtraman.2020.101852 ↗
83. Urban air mobility: A comprehensive review and comparative analysis with autonomous and electric ground transportation for informing future research10.1016/j.trc.2021.103377 ↗
84. Kleinbekman, I.C., Mitici, M.A., and Wei, P. (2018, January 23–27). eVTOL arrival sequencing and scheduling for on-demand urban air mobility. Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE/AIAA 37th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC), London, UK.10.1109/DASC.2018.8569645 ↗
85. FAA (2025, September 28). Concepts of Operations, Foundational Principles, Roles and Responsibilities, Scenarios and Operational Threads, Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) Concept of Operations, V2.0, Available online: https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/2022-08/UTM_ConOps_v2.pdf.
86. Elevate, U. (2025, September 28). Uber Air Vehicle Requirements and Missions. Uber, Tech. Rep. Available online: https://s3.amazonaws.com/uber-static/elevate/Summary+Mission+and+Requirements.pdf.
87. Alexander, R.S. (2025, September 28). Vertiport Infrastructure Development [Video File]. Available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3nP0F5Mzw8.
88. Vascik, P.D., and Hansman, R.J. (2017, January 5–9). Evaluation of key operational constraints affecting on-demand mobility for aviation in the Los Angeles basin: Ground infrastructure, air traffic control and noise. Proceedings of the 17th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference, Denver, CO, USA.10.2514/6.2017-3084 ↗
89. Syed, N., Rye, M., Ade, M., Trani, A., Hinze, N., Swingle, H., Smith, J.C., Dollyhigh, S., and Marien, T. (2017, January 5–9). Preliminary considerations for ODM air traffic management based on analysis of commuter passenger demand and travel patterns for the Silicon Valley Region of California. Proceedings of the 17th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference, Denver, CO, USA.10.2514/6.2017-3082 ↗
90. Antcliff, K.R., Moore, M.D., and Goodrich, K.H. (2016, January 13–17). Silicon valley as an early adopter for on-demand civil VTOL operations. Proceedings of the 16th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference, Washington, DC, USA.10.2514/6.2016-3466 ↗
91. Silva, C., Johnson, W.R., Solis, E., Patterson, M.D., and Antcliff, K.R. (2018, January 25–29). VTOL urban air mobility concept vehicles for technology development. Proceedings of the 2018 Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference, Atlanta, GA, USA.10.2514/6.2018-3847 ↗
92. Vascik, P.D., and Hansman, R.J. (2017, January 5–9). Constraint identification in on-demand mobility for aviation through an exploratory case study of los angeles. Proceedings of the 17th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference, Denver, CO, USA.10.2514/6.2017-3083 ↗
93. Long-term application potential of urban air mobility complementing public transport: An upper Bavaria example10.1007/s13272-020-00468-5 ↗
94. Goyal, R., Reiche, C., Fernando, C., and Cohen, A. (2021). Advanced air mobility: Demand analysis and market potential of the airport shuttle and air taxi markets. Sustainability, 13.10.3390/su13137421 ↗
95. Zhao, J., Wen, Z., Mohanta, K., Subasu, S., Fremond, R., Su, Y., Kallaka, R., and Tsourdos, A. (2025). UAV Operations and Vertiport Capacity Evaluation with a Mixed-Reality Digital Twin for Future Urban Air Mobility Viability. Drones, 9.10.3390/drones9090621 ↗
96. Ison, D. (2024). Analysis of VTOL Downwash and Outwash to Establish Vertiport Safety Standards: A Theoretical Approach. Coll. Aviat. Rev. Int., 42.10.22488/okstate.24.100236 ↗
97. Zhang, H., Fei, Y., Li, J., Li, B., and Liu, H. (2023). Method of Vertiport Capacity Assessment Based on Queuing Theory of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. Sustainability, 15, (1).10.3390/su15010709 ↗
98. Lee, J., Huh, U., Wei, P., and Song, K. (2025). Efficient Urban Air Mobility Vertiport Operational Plans Considering On-Ground Traffic Environment. Sustainability, 17, (11).10.3390/su17115054 ↗
99. Integrated network design and demand forecast for on-demand urban air mobility10.1016/j.eng.2020.11.007 ↗
100. Determining infrastructure requirements for an air taxi service at Cologne Bonn Airport10.1007/s13272-021-00544-4 ↗