Palma de Mallorca Airport hosted today a demonstration day framed in the European project EUREKA, whose objective is to safely integrate vertiport operations into the existing airspace, exploring the potential of IAM (Innovative Air Mobility) systems and validating that they are safe and sustainable to respond to the urban transport needs of the future.
In this context, Aena, as host of the project, together with the rest of the reference entities that are part of it, such as ENAIRE, Bluenest by Globalvia, Ineco, Indra, CRIDA, Unifly and Pipistrel, have worked on the design of a platform that allows managing the vertiport resources within the U-space environment, allowing the drone pilot to manage its operation with the rest of the air traffic in a safe manner. The role of the vertiport manager is thus included in the U-space ecosystem.
To make this project a reality, a close relationship has also been established with those responsible for the Health and Mobility Departments of the Balearic Government, as well as with the National Transplant Organization (ONT) and the 061-emergency service.
The demonstration consisted of a real flight with an electric drone (eVTOL) from Bluenest by Globalvia, which took off from Palma de Mallorca Airport and flew to the Son Albertí aerodrome, transporting biological health samples. The flight traveled more than 33 kilometers in 21 minutes, in adverse weather conditions of rain and wind gusts of up to 40km/h. Upon arrival, the aircraft was received by medical personnel from 061, recreating a real emergency medical logistics scenario.
The operation has required complex coordination between the operators, managers of the digital systems of the Indra’s vertiport and U-space environment, the air traffic control carried out by ENAIRE for manned aviation and the drone operator, Bluenest by Globalvia.
The flight planning has been enabled by the U-space Service Provider (USSP) platform, supplied by Unifly, with ENAIRE as the national entity designated as the Single Information Provider in the U-space ecosystem (CISP), and which has been developed by Indra, together with Aena and EUROCONTROL as the project coordinator.
The event was attended by Alfonso Luis Rodríguez, Government Delegate in the Balearic Islands; Ruben Castro, Secretary General of the Government Delegation in the Balearic Islands; Lorena del Valle, Director General of Mobility for the Government of the Balearic Islands; and Gabriel Rojo, Deputy Director of Humanization, User Services, and Training for IB-Salut (Balearic Islands Health Service). The airport director, Tomás Melgar, welcomed the attendees. Alejandro Mena, Director of ENAIRE (the Spanish air navigation service provider) in the Balearic Region, also spoke.
The demonstration held today at Palma de Mallorca Airport is a milestone for Europe, demonstrating that drone transport in real airports is viable and can provide high-value services, such as the urgent delivery of medical supplies.
Initiatives such as EUREKA highlight cooperation between public and private entities and the key role of European innovation projects in developing safer, more efficient, and sustainable transport. The success of this project has been possible thanks to an international consortium made up of infrastructure operators, technology providers, UAS system developers, and entities specialized in air traffic and U-space management, where each partner contributes their experience in key areas such as airport operation, the development of digital platforms, the operation of drones, or the validation of real use cases.
