SkyDrive releases onboard footage of demonstration flights at Expo 2025 in Osaka

SkyDrive announced safe and successful completion of a series of demonstration flights of SkyDrive Model SD-05 conducted at the Expo 2025, Osaka, Kansai, Japan between July 31 and August 24. The flight loops, of a few minutes in duration, took the SKYDRIVE up and out from the Expo venue’s vertiport and over the ocean in Osaka Bay. We invite members of the press and public to enjoy the onboard footage, which captures the aircraft in flight, the Expo venue, and the surrounding coastal scenery.

From September, SkyDrive will fly further demonstrations from the Osakako Vertiport operated by Osaka Metro Co., Ltd. The move from Yumeshima, the island hosting the Expo, to the Osakako Vertiport, which lies adjacent to a densely populated Osaka neighborhood, is another significant step towards the wider public acceptance of eVTOLs as a regular means of daily transport.

Starting on September 15 and concluding on September 23, SkyDrive will perform demonstration flights of the SKYDRIVE Model SD-05 at the Osakako Vertiport, a specialist eVTOL facility built and operated by Osaka Metro Co., Ltd. The aircraft performing these flights will be the same aircraft flown by SkyDrive at Expo 2025.

1. Dates
   September 15-23, 2025, with the exception of September 17 and September 18, when no flights will take place.
    
2. Times
   First flight: From 9:30AM
   Registration to watch the flight and enter the viewing area starts at 8:30 AM. Please arrive early as no entry to the viewing area is permitted after 9:15AM.
   
   Second flight: From 11:30AM
   Registration to watch the flight and enter the viewing area starts at 10:30 AM. Please arrive early as no entry to the viewing area is permitted after 11:15AM.
    
3. Limitations on spectator numbers
   100 spectator places, which must be reserved, are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
   *Depending on the circumstances, a larger number of spectator places may be made available.
    
4. Entry fee
   Entry to the flight viewing area is free.
    
5. Location
   Osakako Vertiport (Kaigan Dori 1-105-5, Minato Ward, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture)
   Nearest Station: Around 10 minutes on foot from the Osakako Station on the Osaka Metro’s Chuo Line.

SkyDrive is currently working to achieve the type certification required for the commercial operation of its aircraft (*2) while also working together with corporate partners in Japan and overseas to pave the way for the future commercialization of SKYDRIVE operations. In Japan, SkyDrive is collaborating with Osaka Metro, operator of the subway system in Japan’s second largest city of Osaka, with a view to starting commercial operations of the SKYDRIVE in Osaka’s Morinomiya Area in 2028. SkyDrive is also working together with JR Kyushu, a major provider of railway services on the island of Kyushu, southern Japan, with the goal of launching, also in around 2028, scenic flights over Beppu Bay, as well as airtaxi services between the city of Beppu and the nearby resort of Yufuin.