KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Electric air taxis could be coming to Central Florida sooner than many expect, and Kissimmee Gateway Airport is already laying the groundwork.
Central Florida leaders and industry representatives gathered Tuesday at the airport’s Signature Aviation hangar to highlight progress on air taxi infrastructure, legislative support and safety collaboration shaping the future of advanced air mobility in Florida.
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At the Signature Aviation hangar at Kissimmee Gateway Airport sits a charger — one that can fully power an electric air taxi in just 15 minutes. The airport installed the charger after changes to state law, pushed by Central Florida legislators, made Florida Department of Transportation funds available for projects focused on Advanced Air Mobility vertiports.
Matt Franklin, Signature Aviation’s senior manager of strategic programs, said the benefits of the technology go well beyond convenience.
“The benefits are pretty substantial. It includes lower noise profiles, no direct emissions from the aircraft, and there’s additional improvement in safety, just based on the redundancy of the number of engines that these aircraft have,” Franklin said.
Franklin said the shift to electric aircraft represents a fundamental transformation in what aviation can look like at the airport.
“So, really what we’re going to be seeing here at this airport is the addition of these electrified aircrafts, replacing those using traditional internal combustion engines,” he said.
The fully electric aircraft are designed for short trips, having reached up to 80 miles during test runs at the airport. Currently capable of holding four to six passengers, designs are already in the works for aircraft that could carry up to 30 passengers as battery technology advances.
Franklin said the range of missions these aircraft could perform goes far beyond moving passengers from point A to point B.
“Some of the missions that these aircraft are going to fly on are going to be life-saving missions. They will be moving organs. They will be performing patient transfer,” Franklin said. “I think also in the way that you’ll be able to see new destinations that open up — a drive between Orlando or Kissimmee and Miami, for example, would take four hours. We’re talking about aircraft that can perform that in two."
Franklin added that the technology stands to reshape travel across Florida.
“I think it’s going to be exciting for the overall mobility within the state,” he said.
Franklin said Florida’s early investment in this infrastructure puts it ahead of the curve nationally.
“We are leading, I’d say, the nation in terms of our adoption of advanced air mobility,” he said.
Kissimmee Gateway Airport Director Shaun Germolus echoed that optimism, painting a picture of what daily life could look like once air taxis are fully operational.
“They won’t just hop around the city and region; we will go from the Orlando area to Tampa within 30 minutes, have lunch and get back in about the time it takes to drive on I-4 today,” Germolus said.
Germolus said the airport has made deliberate investments to be ready for what’s coming.
“Kissimmee is rightly positioned to support the ongoing Advanced Air Mobility, efforts for Florida, especially since we are right along the I-4 corridor with a vast amount of airspace available. We have invested the necessary personnel towards making this opportunity a reality and we are looking towards helping cultivate any potential state-wide efforts that we may be able to support,” he said.
State Rep. Leonard Spencer, D-District 45, touted Kissimmee’s existing partnerships as evidence of the airport’s readiness for what’s ahead.
“We believe Kissimmee Gateway Airport provides an ideal backdrop for this discussion given the airport’s commitment to innovation and its role in advancing the future of aviation in Florida,” Spencer said. “Kissimmee has established itself as a leader in this space by embracing the infrastructure and partnerships necessary to support the industry, including charging infrastructure developed with Beta Technologies, facilities investments with Signature Aviation, and safety and operational collaborations involving Bell Dancy Industries.”
Los Angeles-based Bell Dancy Industries is providing the core safety infrastructure for future aviation and air taxi operations in Central Florida. The company is deploying its ALTA (Autonomous Landing and Takeoff Assistant) airspace management platform to support the safe integration of air taxis into Central Florida’s skies.
Kissimmee Gateway Airport marks a new addition to the ALTA network. Bell Dancy is one of a handful of companies federally selected as an infrastructure partner across multiple eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP) sites. Founded in 2018 and led by CEO Darrell Bell, the company’s ALTA platform was developed in collaboration with NASA and UCLA.
Bell said the Kissimmee expansion reflects the kind of environment where advanced air mobility can move beyond the theoretical.
“Kissimmee Gateway Airport represents exactly the kind of forward-thinking environment that allows Advanced Air Mobility to move from concept to reality,” Bell said. “Our work on safety and airspace management systems is built to support exactly this kind of responsible growth, giving communities like Kissimmee the confidence that air taxi operations can be introduced safely and reliably.”
Bell credited legislative leadership as a key factor in driving progress.
“We’re grateful for the leadership shown by Representative Spencer and his colleagues in creating a policy environment where innovation and safety go hand in hand,” he said.
Kissimmee Gateway Airport serves as a general aviation hub for Central Florida, supporting business aviation, flight training and emerging Advanced Air Mobility infrastructure. While no firm timeline has been set for when air taxis will be permanently based in Kissimmee, Tuesday’s event marked what leaders called a significant first step.