Japanese Developer’s SD-05 eVTOL Flies In Osaka And Osakako

Japanese eVTOL aircraft developer SkyDrive announced the successful completion of a series of public demo flights of its SKYDRIVE, the SD-05 model, the company conducted from July 31 to September 24. The flights were conducted at the Expo 2025 venue in Osaka and at the nearby Osakako Vertiport.

The company’s first set of flights were performed from July 31 to August 24 at the Mobility Experience section of the Expo 2025 event in Osaka. Those flights lasted about 5-10 minutes in duration and took the aircraft from the venue’s vertiport out over Osaka Bay.

Following an opening ceremony on September 13, a second series of public flights were conducted from September 14-23 at the Osakako Vertiport, a purpose-built, takeoff and landing facility built exclusively for eVTOL aircraft by Okaka Metro Co., that operates the Osaka subway system.

The Osakako Vertiport is situated in a dense urban setting in close proximity to homes, stores, businesses, and entertainment venues. The flights conducted there were significant in garnering public acceptance of eVTOLs for urban air mobility / air taxi operations.

Prior to the actual demo flights out of Osakako Vertiport, SkyDrive had conducted a series of familiarization flights from September 6-12. SkyDrive says their research shows that the combined series of familiarization and public demo flights out of the Osakako Vertiport, which ran from September 6-23, constitute an unprecedented run of development testing in an urban setting by any eVTOL company.

The flights out of the Expo 2025 Vertiport drew large crowds from Japan and overseas visitors that significantly raised awareness of SkyDrive’s international profile as a Japanese eVTOL manufacturer. The flights at the Osakako Vertiport enabled local residents to see the aircraft operations up close in a neighborhood scheduled to be a focus of future urban air taxi routes.

The positive response the company received indicates a high level of public acceptance and a growing anticipation over the approaching revolution in urban air transportation.

FMI:  en.skydrive2020.com/