AutoFlight, the Chinese eVTOL (Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing) manufacturer backed by battery giant CATL, has unveiled a concept straight out of a science fiction movie: a floating airport for air taxis. It’s a vertical airport that literally floats on water—ocean, lake, or river—and operates autonomously, requiring no land connection.
The Vision for a Sea-Air Supercenter
The company calls this design the “eVTOL Water Vertiport.” The concept is simple: a modular platform that serves as both a landing pad and a charging point for electric aircraft. The entire system is powered by onboard solar panels and its own energy storage system, allowing it to operate completely autonomously once deployed.
Shiftdelete.netAutoFlight claims that thanks to its built-in communication equipment and automated dispatch setup, these platforms can be deployed virtually anywhere, from busy coastal areas to remote offshore locations.
The company’s ultimate goal is to create not just one or two of these landing platforms, but a cluster of interconnected “Sea-Air Super Hubs,” which it calls “Sea-Air Super Hubs.” In theory, these hubs could support a wide range of operations, from emergency response missions to maintenance of offshore wind farms and oil platforms.
AutoFlight claims that response times for rescue operations could be halved, while routine offshore maintenance could be accelerated tenfold. In cities, these floating platforms could provide air taxis with direct shortcuts over ports or wide rivers, eliminating reliance on crowded airports or land-based infrastructure.
AutoFlight isn’t just an early-stage venture, either. The company already has orders for more than 2,000 aircraft for cargo, passenger, rescue, and firefighting missions. CATL, which has invested hundreds of millions in the project, is working on specialized aviation batteries and future “concentrated batteries.”
These batteries could enable electric aircraft to fly over 3,200 km (2,000 miles) on a single charge. CATL says it has successfully tested a 4-ton electric aircraft powered by these ultra-high-density batteries and plans to power 8-ton electric aircraft with a range of 2,000 to 3,000 km by 2028.
