Rotorcraft
VAI Tackling Infrastructure, Operating Standards with Broadened Base
VAI's Viola is concerned that vertiport standards aren't flexible enough
Helicopter landing at Heli-Expo 2024
VAI’s president and CEO James Viola is concerned that vertiport standards aren’t flexible enough to enable advanced air mobility operations that can serve cities as well as small communities.

As the newly dubbed Vertical Aviation International (VAI) broadens its horizons, the association is managing a full plate of challenges confronting the association’s expanded reach such as infrastructure availability and operating standards.

“We've been trying to make sure we don't lose any current infrastructure that helicopters have access to today,” VAI president and CEO James Viola told AIN. “The second thing that we've been…doing is trying to get a buy-in from the government that all current infrastructure can be used by future [advanced air mobility] vehicles.”