SkyDrive, (“SkyDrive”), a leading eVTOL (*1) aircraft manufacturer based in Japan, is pleased to announce the safe and successful completion of a series of demonstration flights of the SKYDRIVE (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.
SkyDrive is also pleased to announce that one of the above demonstration flights of the SKYDRIVE, a mission flown on August 18, took place in the presence of visiting VIPs including Hirofumi Yoshimura, the Governor of Osaka Prefecture, Kazunori Tanaka, Chairman of the Diet Members’ Association for the Promotion of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (also referred to as the diet member’s Drone Association ), Yoshiro Taguchi, Director-General of the Aviation Network Department, Japan Civil Aviation Bureau, Furuichi Shigeru, Director, Advanced Air Mobility Office, Takeshi Ito, Associate Director General of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and Kenichi Fujino, Representative Executive Officer and Vice President of The Kansai Electric Power Company, Incorporated, the company supplying SkyDrive with equipment for charging our aircraft.
VIPs view a SKYDRIVE (SkyDrive Model SD-05) flight on August 18.
From left: Hirofumi Yoshimura, the Governor of Osaka Prefecture and SkyDrive CEO Tomohiro Fukuzawa
Hirofumi Yoshimura, the Governor of Osaka Prefecture boards the SkyDrive, expressing his surprise at the ease and simplicity of the controls
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.
September Demonstration Flight Information
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.
Future Commercialization of the SKYDRIVE
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.
AloJapan.com