Malaga Airport prepares for first passenger drone flights getting off the ground

It is not science fiction: very soon the first electric drone air taxis for passengers will soon start operating from Malaga Airport to destinations on the Costa del Sol and other nearby areas. Initially, they will be managed by pilots, but the plan is for the trips to become autonomous in the medium-term.

Malaga Airport will be among the first in Spain to offer these services, as its professionals are leading the way in the development of the new air mobility system in Spain. Enaire's R&D centre in Madrid has already begun the testing phase in an operations simulator with e-Vtol vehicles, which is an acronym for electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL).

Collaborating with technicians, pilots and aeronautical engineers from Spain's airport operator (Aena), senior managers of the Malaga control tower are taking part in these tests, which are part of the Opera project - a European single sky R&D&I project.

"What we are looking for is the integration between medium- and long-range commercial aviation and the new urban or regional mobility, which can take you to a town, to the centre of a city, to your resort, to your villa or to your farm," said Raúl Delgado, Torres coordinator for Enaire's southern region, who is one of the professionals leading this process. "We are investigating how this could be applied to Malaga, with a U-Space corridor," said César Nava, a specialist in this type of aircraft in Aena's Innovation team. "What we are studying is whether this corridor could be continuously occupied with operational traffic, within the U-Space, segregated from controlled airspace," added Delgado.

The first test with the flight and control tower simulators has established the route for a future connection between Malaga and Granada airports. The initially planned location for the vertipuerto (similar to a heliport, but equipped for aerotaxis) is near the head of runway 13 (the old one) and Malaga's outer ring motorway (A-7), where the long-stay car park is, in the area around the Zapata neighbourhood (Alhaurín de la Torre) and the cargo terminal.

The route that has been traced towards Granada runs through Playamar, in Torremolinos, and from there to the sea, to avoid interfering with instrumental manoeuvres of landings and take-offs. After following about eight kilometres along the coastline, it turns inland near the La Araña cement factory and La Cala del Moral. From there, it heads towards Granada through the Loja area, to avoid the highest mountains. The journey will take between 35 and 40 minutes.

In these first tests, the airport and its surroundings are being flown at 500 feet (150 metres) above the sea, "which is very low", to pass underneath the arrival and departure manoeuvres. "A passenger plane will be arriving at the airport from the sea and, at a certain point we will see the aerotaxis pass underneath - it looks like something out of a film," said David González, head of the air traffic control tower in Malaga.

These new electric aircraft can climb up to 15,000 feet (4,500 metres), but the idea is for them to fly at lower altitudes and avoid the mountains. On the route to Granada, they will always fly between 1,000 and 2,000 feet (about 600 metres) above ground level, although they may reach up to 7,000 feet above sea level. In addition, since they are electric vehicles, energy consumption is a key factor and so is flying at altitudes where the journey is most efficient. "That's why we also have people who have been developing the machines, so that they can contribute to that vision."

Since it is an R&D&I project, the specialists work with a technology scale that is the same as the one used by Nasa. They call it the 'technology readiness level', i.e. the level of maturity for commissioning. "It is a scale that goes up to 9, which is the maximum level, and with this project we want to take it to level 7, which is just before the real tests. 9 will be the commissioning. We are going to take it to a high level of maturity."

In this phase, flight simulations are being carried out prior to the actual flight, which is scheduled for January 2026. However, on that occasion, a conventional helicopter will be used, instead of an eVtol, as originally planned.

As in all races to develop pioneering technologies, there have been setbacks. The initiative involved the company Lilium, which was certifying its aircraft and was well on its way to operate in January. However, the company has since gone bankrupt, although the project has managed to retain some of its professionals. One example is Marvin, a German engineer who was part of the consortium and now participates as an independent consultant. The same goes for the test pilot involved in these early trials, who is American.

Consequently, the first flight test will still be carried out with a helicopter, although it will fly along the corridors that are now being designed, with visual and instrumental manoeuvres, with up to five scenarios to be tested. "On the maturity scale, this will take us to the level of deployment or almost operational deployment. Flying with a real aircraft and in a real environment, outside of the virtual, will allow us to learn several lessons," says Nava.

Once this last phase has been passed, everything will be ready for a private initiative to decide to put it into practice in Malaga. "As far as we are concerned, it would be practically ready to start carrying out real tests. Although the first route is currently being designed to the Granada Airport, the aerotaxis will be able to travel to any vertiport established in the city center, as the aircraft are designed for vertical take-off and landing and they generate less turbulence than helicopters."

Currently, studies are under way for locating the best spots for a vertiport in Malaga's urban areas. Although it is still very early to be confirmed, a platform could be constructed at the San Andrés quay of the port, which would be the best option for accessing the historic centre. These platforms need high-voltage charging points and the Port Authority is finalising the project for a new electrical substation in this area.

In conclusion, Malaga, its airport and its air traffic controllers, together with Enaire, Aena and the companies involved, are pioneering the flight procedures that will allow us to see aerotaxis aboard passenger drones flying through cities in the near future. "We are among the most advanced countries in this field."