The EUREKA project flies a drone with medical supplies between the Palma de Mallorca Airport and the Son Albertí Aerodrome

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, Ineco, Indra, CRIDA, Unifly, Pipistrel, and Bluenest by Globalvia, 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.

Recepción en Son Alberti. 

Real demonstration of medical transport with a drone

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, and 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.

This project, in addition to achieving technical and innovative objectives, aims to provide added value to society in the future by evaluating the viability of unmanned aircraft for various potential uses, including the transport of biological and sanitary materials between islands. This capacity would optimize medical logistics, reduce critical response times, and enable urgent transport of blood or organs between hospitals in the Balearic Islands.

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.

Collaborative innovation

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.

EUREKA: a boost to air mobility

EUREKA is part of the European SESAR 3 program. It brings together a large consortium of 35 European entities, led by EUROCONTROL, that are working to define how vertiports of the future should operate and be integrated into the current airspace. The project has a total investment of 12 million euros, of which the European Union funds 6.9 million through the Horizon Europe program and SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking has technically managed this project. Among its main objectives, EUREKA develops three essential solutions so that vertiports and eVTOL aircraft can operate safely and efficiently in urban and airport environments:

- Arrival and departure management, which defines safe routes and trajectories to and from vertiports and which includes the management of contingencies and emergencies in the event of unforeseen situations.

- Vertiport collaborative traffic management (VCTM), which optimizes resource availability and schedule allocation.

- Network, capacity, and operations management, to efficiently coordinate multiple vertiports within the same urban or airport environment.

These solutions are being developed in close coordination with the European Safety Agency EASA, the European Commission, and international organizations, providing recommendations that will serve as a basis for the future regulation of Urban Air Mobility in Europe.

About EUREKA

The EUREKA Consortium, led by EUROCONTROL, is made up of an ambitious set of industry leaders in Urban Air Mobility (UAM): Abionica, Aeroporti di Roma, Aena, Alliance for New Mobility Europe, ANRA, Bluenest by Globalvia, Boeing Aerospace Spain, CRIDA, Deep Blue, D-flight, DLR, Dronea, Droniq, DSNA, ENAC, ENAIRE, ENAV, Groupe ADP, HföD, Hologarde, IFT, Indra, INECO, Leonardo, NAIS, Pipistrel, SEA, SoulSoftware, Techno Sky, Unifly, Unisphere and UrbanV.

https://project-eureka.eu
https://www.sesarju.eu/projects/EUREKA