UK. Urban-Air Port (UAP) has revealed the identities of additional global brands who will join the ranks of retail and food & beverage companies investing in a new environmentally-friendly form of air travel. Nestlé, Rituals and Henkell Freixenet are the latest prominent travel retail players to associate themselves with the electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) infrastructure trailblazer.
The announcement comes just three days ahead of the opening in Coventry, UK of UAP’s Air One, the world first fully-operational vertiport hub for passenger air taxis and delivery and logistics drones. The Moodie Davitt Report will be there to bring you live coverage of the opening VIP event days from Monday next week.
The latest named high-profile brands will line up alongside the likes of Anatomie (see our interview with CEO Kate Boyer about her company’s association with UAP here), Bottega, Eurest, LG Business Solutions, Mother and Paul & Shark in supporting the fast-developing advanced air mobility market.
Rituals Cosmetics is a brand dedicated to sustainable and personal wellbeing in the beauty luxury industry. Its Global Travel Retail Director Melvin Broekaart outlined the attraction of supporting UAP.
“As the travel industry looks to a more sustainable and passenger-centric future, Rituals is delighted to be part of the Urban-Air Port ecosystem and global launch,” he said. “The vision of the Urban-Air Port team for carbon-neutral travel is one which is perfectly aligned with our goals as a B Corp certified organisation to continuously improve our social and environmental impact.”
“The volume of interest in Urban-Air Port from the retail market has acutely shown how travel retail is evolving and we are particularly pleased to have joined forces with such important brands that share our vision for a sustainable future” – UAP Chief Retail Officer Keith Hunter
“I’m excited to build on these partnerships and continue to expand the offer to evolve and develop the way that we view the next incarnation of retail.”
Nestlé Professional UK & Ireland Sales Director Steve Norris said: “We are proud to support Urban-Air Port in its launch and future ambitions. Innovation is at the heart of what we do at Nestlé and it’s only by collaborating and partnering with exciting initiatives like this one that we will meet our wider goals of getting to net zero.
“It’s essential for product delivery and travel to be more sustainable, and we look forward to working with UAP to play a part in making this a reality.”
Henkell Freixenet is the world’s leading sparkling wine producer, with a wide portfolio of brands of wine and spirits. The company’s SVP Global Export Sandra Janetzki said: “We are delighted to partner and celebrate the launch event of Air-One by Urban-Air Port, being the headline sponsor on the 25th of April with our Mionetto Prosecco and to accompany and support the launch of such a future-oriented and important concept.”
She added: “The concept of sustainable urban air mobility has for sure a great potential.”
The latest big name brands are coming on board with what UAP describes as “a whole new way to shop as you fly”. As well having their wares on display inside Air One’s 4,300sq ft lounge, all of the brands signed up will be an integral part of the associated Urban-Air Choice app.
Urban-Air Choice will be accessed as the customer moves from place to place. This gives customers, the company explained, “absolute flexibility and control over how they browse, select, pay for, and receive products and services”.
Purchases can be delivered to their next destination, including their office, home, or nearest pre-arranged collection point, as autonomous delivery drones will be on hand to deliver their purchases to a local hub for collection. UAP said it believes that the Urban-Air Choice suite and app could ultimately be licenced to other aviation infrastructure developments including traditional long-haul carriers/providers.
The app will carry a suite of products and services that will be available to all users and offers a novel way of shopping and engaging with a wide range of brands. Alongside that, Urban-Air Port said it will not be beholden to the traditional travel retail shop format inside its vertiports, where space is very restricted compared to traditional airport terminals. Rather, retailers and brands will interact with travellers through experiential pop-ups and digital interactive displays.
“This type of interface enables retailers to remain nimble and flexible, responding to customer demand and market forces in real time,” a statement from UAP said.
Also announced as a new partner today by UAP is Andreu World, a contemporary design furniture company for home, office, hotels, restaurants and corporate spaces.
UAP Chief Retail Officer Keith Hunter said: “The volume of interest in Urban-Air Port from the retail market has acutely shown how travel retail is evolving and we are particularly pleased to have joined forces with such important brands that share our vision for a sustainable future.
“I’m excited to build on these partnerships and continue to expand the offer to evolve and develop the way that we view the next incarnation of retail.”
Underlining the scale of its retail opportunity, UAP – which in January outlined plans for its first 200 vertiports – has predicted that its global passenger numbers could reach up to 28 million annually in the next five years.
You can book your visit to the Air One public event, which is running from 28 April-15 May, here. For more on retail opportunities, email keith@urbanairport.com; and for F&B opportunities, contact Nick Goddard-Palmer at nick@urbanairport.com.
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