Collaboration will explore digital infrastructure, airspace integration, and cybersecurity frameworks to enable safe, scalable AAM operations
SkyGrid and Port San Antonio, will jointly explore technologies, services, and operational frameworks to safely integrate AAM operations on the Port’s 1,900-acre Tech Port campus and beyond.
Through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), SkyGrid and Port San Antonio will collaborate to assess the technical, regulatory, and operational requirements necessary to enable and scale crewed and uncrewed aircraft operations—leveraging Port San Antonio’s Tech Port campus and SkyGrid’s expertise in digital airspace services, automation, and operational assurance.
Port San Antonio is among the strongest ready-to-scale AAM environments in Texas and nationally. SkyGrid and Port San Antonio will build on the Port’s efforts to build a vertiport as well as prior analyses demonstrating the strategic value of the Port’s infrastructure, airspace, existing critical mass of technology partners, and the site’s operational advantages as an ideal environment for AAM research, development, and operations.
The collaboration also reflects Boeing’s long-standing presence at Port San Antonio and across Texas. Boeing has operated in Texas for more than 90 years, with one of its largest aircraft maintenance, modernization, and sustainment operations located at Port San Antonio, which supports critical national security and commercial aviation missions. Wisk Aero has also established the state of Texas as a U.S. launch market for its autonomous AAM operations. As a Boeing company and subsidiary of Wisk Aero, SkyGrid brings infrastructure-grade digital systems and deep aerospace expertise to support the safe integration of autonomous and advanced air mobility aircraft into shared, regulated airspace.
“Advanced air mobility will only scale if it can be tested in environments that reflect real operational complexity,” said Jia Xu, CEO of SkyGrid. “Kelly Field’s joint-use setting, combined with Port San Antonio’s infrastructure and vision, makes it an ideal proving ground to evaluate how digital airspace services and cyber-resilient systems can support the next generation of aviation.”
While much of the news in the AAM world focuses on aircraft, SkyGrid and Port San Antonio are developing the foundational system that will enable safe, well-integrated operations in the future. Under the MOU, the SkyGrid and Port San Antonio team will explore several areas for collaboration, including:
- Advanced Air Mobility Concepts of Operations (CONOPs) for joint-use airfields
- New digital flight rules
- Airspace design, AAM routing, and air traffic management integration
- Low-altitude traffic surveillance, micro-weather, and digital situational awareness
- Advanced Air Mobility service provisions
- Airport and vertiport operational concepts
- Communication, navigation, and surveillance (CNS) systems and cyber-resilient infrastructure
- Ground system certification and operational approvals
The collaboration will also explore potential alignment with state and federal initiatives, including future proposals for the eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP), Center for Advanced Aviation Technologies (CAAT) task orders, and other activities supporting national aviation modernization priorities.
“SkyGrid is an invaluable partner as we begin proving advanced air mobility,” said Jim Perschbach, President and CEO of Port San Antonio. “Their focus on digital airspace infrastructure and operational assurance aligns directly with the realities of a joint-use airfield. This partnership is a major validation of what we’ve long believed—that Port San Antonio is uniquely positioned to help shape the future of aviation.”
