The air taxi revolution has a problem, and it's not the aircraft. Joby Aviation has flown from JFK to Manhattan in seven minutes. Archer Aviation has been named the official eVTOL provider for Belgrade's Expo 2027. FAA type certification is in the final stretch. The machines, against all odds, are nearly ready. The ground, however, is not. For electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft to operate as commercial air taxis, they need somewhere to land, charge, and take off again—repeatedly, safely, and at scale. They need a new kind of airport. The industry calls them vertiports, and building them is turning out to be harder, more expensive, and more politically fraught than building the aircraft themselves. 🏚 Vertiports cost between $1M (basic retrofit) and $15M (flagship hub) ⚡ Fast-charging infrastructure is essential — aircraft need rapid turnaround 📢 Noise regulations remain a major hurdle despite eVTOLs being quieter than helicopters 💰 Funding models unclear — cities, operators, and developers all pointing at each other ✈ Joby flew JFK to Manhattan in 7 minutes; Archer signed for Belgrade Expo 2027 📋 Aircraft certification is ahead of infrastructure readiness in almost every market What Is a Vertiport, and Why Can't We Just Use Heliports? The simplest explanation: a vertiport is a heliport with a power outlet. But that dramatically understates the engineering challenge. Joby's prototype charging system is designed to deliver megawatt-class power. For context, a typical fast-charging station for electric cars delivers around 350 kilowatts. eVTOL charging requires three to four times that power, and a busy vertiport might need several chargers operating simultaneously. That means new power lines, upgraded transformers, and potentially on-site energy storage to buffer peak demand. Worse, there's no standardization yet. Joby's charging system is proprietary. Archer and Beta Technologies have started working on interoperability, but the