News

Dubai Certifies The World’s First Purpose-Built Air Taxi Vertiport

The four-story VDX hub will handle up to 170,000 passengers a year, with three more vertiports already under development across the city.

Published

1 week ago

July 7, 2026

Dana Saadeh

dubai certifies the world's first purpose-built air taxi vertiport

Dubai’s air taxi ambitions have cleared their most consequential hurdle yet: somewhere to land. The UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has certified VDX, a facility developed by Skyports Infrastructure, as the world’s first purpose-built commercial vertiport for electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, opening the way for commercial air taxi services to begin in the emirate.

Officially registered as VDX under the GCAA certification process, the four-story facility spans approximately 3,100 square meters and houses two dedicated take-off and landing areas, rapid charging infrastructure for electric aircraft, and high throughput passenger facilities. Once commercial operations commence, it can accommodate up to 170,000 passengers annually.

dubai uae vertiport skyport vdx certification

VDX will serve as the first and primary hub in Dubai’s planned air taxi network, which Skyports is developing in collaboration with the city’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). Three additional vertiports are currently under development.

Certification is the unglamorous half of the flying-taxi story, and arguably the harder one. The GCAA’s assessment covered the vertiport’s infrastructure, physical characteristics, operational procedures, safety management arrangements, emergency preparedness and regulatory compliance — a checklist that, until now, no purpose-built commercial vertiport anywhere had completed.

“The certification of the world’s first purpose-built commercial vertiport is a historic achievement for the UAE and a defining moment for the future of aviation,” said Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Director-General of the GCAA. “The UAE is not only preparing for the future of aviation; it is actively shaping it and establishing new international benchmarks for Advanced Air Mobility”.

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Skyports Infrastructure CEO Duncan Walker called the milestone proof “that the infrastructure, operational standards and regulatory frameworks required for commercial eVTOL services are now a reality,” adding that construction of the wider network is progressing at pace.

The certification supports the “We the UAE 2031” vision and the Dubai Economic Agenda D33, positioning the emirate’s air taxi network as part of a broader push toward economic diversification and sustainable mobility.

Related Topics:Aviation Dubai eVTOL RTA United Arab Emirates

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A Three-Clinic Network Bets Dubai Is Ready For Longevity Medicine

Longevium has enlisted nearly 100 clinicians and created an AI platform in a bid to sell biological-age tracking as a medicine, not a wellness service.

Published

2 days ago

July 13, 2026

Dana Saadeh

a three-clinic network bets dubai is ready for longevity medicine

Dubai has been busily creating the scaffolding for a longevity industry, including a dedicated regulatory authority and a health market deep enough to sustain it. Now the clinics are arriving.

Longevium, a longevity clinic network, has opened three locations across the city: a flagship at Triple Seven Mall on Jumeirah 3, and branches in Jumeirah Lake Towers and Jumeirah Village Circle. Together they house a multidisciplinary team of nearly 100 physicians and specialists offering what the company bills as “a measurable medical system for longevity”.

longevity dubai clinic launch

The pitch is that longevity medicine should look less like a wellness menu and more like continuous clinical care. Each patient’s biological age assessment, laboratory results, body composition, cardiovascular risk factors, metabolic markers, and lifestyle data feed into a single profile, with a proprietary AI platform helping physicians track progress and adjust protocols against the patient’s own biomarkers.

“Healthy aging must be approached clinically through diagnostics, biomarkers, physician supervision, longitudinal tracking, and protocols tailored to the individual,” said Dr. Ksenia Butova, Longevium’s founder and CEO. “Our goal is to help patients understand their health trajectory before disease develops, and then actively change that trajectory”.

The treatment list spans peptide-based protocols, exosome therapies, stem cell approaches, GLP-1 metabolic optimization, hormone balance programs, cardiovascular prevention, and regenerative aesthetics — a model built for the entrepreneurs, executives, and international patients the clinic says want measurable results rather than generic wellness. A signature offering, Longevity Day, compresses biomarker testing, ultrasound and vascular imaging, specialist consultations, IV therapy, and a personalized optimization roadmap into a single three-hour visit.

Also Read: Dubai Certifies The World’s First Purpose-Built Air Taxi Vertiport

“Here, longevity, biotechnology, AI, prevention, and regenerative medicine are converging into a single ecosystem,” said Butova. “This is why Longevium was built in Dubai, and why we believe the UAE can become a global reference point for longevity medicine”.

The emirate established the Dubai Longevity Authority in 2026 to oversee its longevity, wellness, and advanced health sectors, and the Dubai Health Authority reported insured beneficiaries exceeding 4.9 million in 2025, up around 6.5%, with insurance claims reaching approximately 49.6 million, up around 13.5%.