Ohio's AAM Action Plan Prioritizes a Statewide Sky Data Network Over New Vertiports, Targeting Routine Flights by 2029
Why It MattersOhio is putting airspace data infrastructure ahead of public vertiport construction, which signals that state-level advanced air mobility readiness may hinge on surveillance and traffic management before ground facilities.
The Ohio Department of Transportation's Division of Advanced Air Mobility and DriveOhio published the Ohio AAM Action Plan, titled From Ground to Air, in October 2026. The 49-page document sets out how the state intends to reach routine commercial drone and electric aircraft flights by 2029. It runs in three phases, with pilot flights on one or more initial routes in 2027 and 2028 and preparation to scale in 2028 to 2029, and it cuts across six pillars: infrastructure, policy, proof of concept, workforce, funding and engagement.
The first thing the plan builds is a data network called the Digital Enterprise, rather than a vertiport. Each participating node would collect and pass on verified air and ground data, including aircraft position and intent, weather, surveillance, infrastructure status and emergencies. It would complement the FAA's air traffic services rather than replace them, and its traffic management tools would first run in "shadow mode," advising alongside human procedures without controlling aircraft. The plan's operating record centers on Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport, where ODOT's AAM Division and its UAS Center have run more than 200 AAM test flights using SkyVision, a ground-based detect-and-avoid radar system developed with the Air Force Research Laboratory.
On the ground, a statewide assessment will measure existing airports and heliports against the FAA's emerging vertiport design guidance, and ODOT will study rooftop hospital helipads as dual-use pads for helicopters and eVTOL aircraft. New purpose-built vertiports would come only where market demand, operator commitments, community acceptance, land-use compatibility and safety analysis justify them. The plan names $1.2 million in AAM-focused state funding authorized for ODOT and DriveOhio, prices none of its proposals, and says its timeline is "preliminary and contingent upon available funding." It sets no flight count, route or operator commitment, and does not use the words "passenger" or "air taxi."
