Lotte mulls building transit hubs in retail stores for air taxis, drones

South Korea’s Lotte Engineering & Construction Co. said on Dec. 22 it is considering building vertiports on the rooftops of its retail affiliates, such as Lotte Department Store and Lotte Mart. 

Vertiports refer to sites for electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) and are essential for the operation of air taxis and drones.

The construction arm of Lotte Group, Korea's No. 5 conglomerate, is also planning to develop technologies to install the take-off and landing sites in some expressway rest areas and intermodal transit centers across the country.

Mobility is one of Lotte Group's key growth engines. During the annual meeting with the CEOs of its affiliates in July, the group said its new core businesses are health and wellness, mobility and infrastructure. Its existing businesses focus on food, retail, chemicals and hotel.

The construction arm, heavily impacted by the default on municipal government-guaranteed debt worth 205 billion won for Legoland Korea, is boosting urban air mobility (UAM) with group affiliates.    

Last month, Lotte E&C and Lotte Data Communication attended a UAM demonstration event at Pontoise-Cormeilles Airport in France as the only Korean corporate participants. In May, the construction firm filed a future mobility business proposal to the Korea Aerospace Research Institute.

In November last year, the company announced it will closely work with the Incheon city government, Skyworks Aeronautics Corp., MOBIUS.energy Corp. and Mint Air Inc. to build an advanced air mobility service in Korea. 

Other Korean conglomerates are joining the race to boost their UAM businesses.

In April, Hyundai Motor Group and Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. signed a memorandum of understanding with Korea's largest real estate investment firm IGIS Asset Management Co. to develop vertiports in major transportation hubs. GS Caltex Corp., a leading oil refiner, is accelerating its plan to use gas stations as take-off and landing sites for UAM and drones.   

Write to Jong-Pil Park at jp@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.