Signature Aviation, the owner of the world’s largest network of private aviation terminals, could be among the first to embrace hybrid-electric aircraft that promise to reshape regional aviation by moving operations away from airports.
The FBO, which already has partnerships with electric air taxi manufacturers such as Archer Aviation and Beta Technologies, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Italy’s UrbanV and Electra—whose EL9 Ultra Short is built to operate from soccer field-sized spaces—to turn the latter’s vision of “direct aviation” to reality.
Signature and UrbanV—which develops vertiports—created a joint venture in 2025 to develop a U.S. network of electrified infrastructure for aircraft with novel propulsion systems. The MOU marks the partners’ first formal engagement with Electra.
The EL9 manufacturer describes direct aviation as flying people from where they are to where they want to go, cutting out unnecessary connections and ground transfers and saving travelers hours compared to driving. Though it will initially use airports, the EL9 is intended for ultra-short “access points” that could be installed on rooftops, parking lots, fields, barges, malls, casinos, or even ski resorts.
The sites will require only 150 feet of space for takeoff and landing due to the EL9’s ability to take off at a leisurely 35 knots. It achieves this using blown-lift propulsion, redirecting airflows over large flaps and ailerons and into the ground.
The EL9 has yet to fly, but Electra has validated the 150-foot ground roll with its EL2 Goldfinch demonstrator.
In its recent direct aviation market outlook, Electra estimated it will need to produce 12,000 to 16,000 aircraft to meet demand for the EL9’s first decade of operation, targeted to begin toward the end of the decade.
It will also need partners to develop and operate access points, which is where Signature and UrbanV come in.
The partners’ joint venture is separately studying vertiport networks in New York, California, Florida, and Texas, where Signature owns dozens of facilities. Together with Electra, Signature and UrbanV now plan to jointly develop EL9 access points within “core demand centers.” The trio will work toward establishing site-specific criteria for installation and operations.
“The future of aviation will be defined by greater access, connectivity, and seamless guest experiences,” said Derek DeCross, chief commercial officer for Signature, in a statement. “By combining Electra’s breakthrough aircraft capabilities with UrbanV’s next generation vertiport vision and Signature’s global network, we have an opportunity to help shape how regional air mobility is deployed and scaled around the world.”
The partners in a news release added that the network could comprise both passenger and cargo operations and said their MOU is “designed for repeatable deployment across a global network.”
How Would It Work?
At the center of the new collaboration is Electra’s EL9.
The model is designed for short-haul, high-frequency operations in urban and suburban settings, with eight Evolito electric engines spread across the front of the wing. It is designed to cruise at about 175 knots. At full payload of 3,000 pounds—or a pilot plus nine passengers and 50 pounds of luggage apiece—the EL9 has a projected range of 330 nm.
The model is also quiet, producing only 75 dBA of volume at takeoff and landing that could enable access points at noise-sensitive airports.
The EL9 could debut in the next few years after Electra wraps up testing with the Goldfinch demonstrator. The company says it has about 2,200 provisional orders from more than 60 operators.
UrbanV, meanwhile, handles vertiport planning and design, orchestrates construction partners, and oversees vertiport networks to help them operate safely and efficiently. The company’s concepts are built to accommodate any electric, vertically capable aircraft. They could be installed on the ground or atop roofs or floating pontoons on the water.
By 2030, UrbanV aims to build up to 10 vertiports in the Rome region of Italy. It also has active network projects in Venice, Bologna, and the French Riviera, as well as agreements to study networks in Japan, Brazil, and Kazakhstan.
Much of the company’s technology is kept behind the curtain, but UrbanV in 2022 opened the UV-0 test vertiport next to Rome Fiumicino Airport (LIRF). Overseen by Italy’s Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC), the sandbox environment hosts experimental activities as well as demonstration and test flights, including alongside regular airport traffic. The site measures about 59,000 square feet.
Though the FAA has yet to authorize a commercial vertiport, the agency has shared initial design guidance that spawned a fledgling industry. Competing with Signature and UrbanV is Vertiports by Atlantic, which FBO competitor Atlantic Aviation created in 2025.
When or if these access points come online, Electra believes they could create a seismic shift in regional transport.
Per its direct aviation market outlook—which examined three months of data from spring 2025—the EL9 could cut travel times by one or more hours for over 2,600 routes that see at least 1,000 daily drivers and span 50 to 265 miles. The calculation includes EL9 flight time, average driving time to or from the access point at the origin and destination, waiting time, and ingress and egress.
The analysis found that just 1 percent of people travel these routes by air, largely due to a lack of commercial air service. But with the EL9 and access points, Electra estimated demand for about 27,000 daily flights in the Northeast Corridor region alone.
That vision will take time to come to fruition. But with Signature and UrbanV’s assistance, Electra moves one step closer to delivering on its promise of reduced travel times and increased access to air travel.
