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Wisk Opens Vertiport at Hollister Municipal Airport with Ribbon Cutting

Barchart·10/30/2026 10:00:00
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Wisk Aero, an autonomous aviation company, today announced the completion and operational launch of its new vertiport at Hollister Municipal Airport in California. Now fully operational, the site is one of the nation's first public, on-airport vertiports supporting both piloted and autonomous operations.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261030763076/en/

From left to right: Cash Castillo (Head of Service IPT, Wisk), Leon Villegas (VP of Production System, Wisk), Congresswoman Zoe Langden, Roxanne Stephens (Mayor of Hollister), Jeff Crechriou (Hollister Airport Director), Jon Lovegren (VP of Autonomy & Airspace Integration, Wisk)

From left to right: Cash Castillo (Head of Service IPT, Wisk), Leon Villegas (VP of Production System, Wisk), Congresswoman Zoe Langden, Roxanne Stephens (Mayor of Hollister), Jeff Crechriou (Hollister Airport Director), Jon Lovegren (VP of Autonomy & Airspace Integration, Wisk)

To mark the event, Wisk hosted local, state, federal government officials, airport leadership, and other partners at Wisk’s Hollister facility for an official ribbon cutting ceremony on October 29, 2026.

“Opening this vertiport for flight testing is a big moment for Wisk and the future of piloted and autonomous flight,” said Sebastien Vigneron, CEO of Wisk. “Deploying our aircraft on a purpose-built vertiport gives us the exact physical setup needed to validate precision landing technologies and our complete autonomy stack. This site is designed to support all VTOL aircraft, allowing us to gather critical operational data to feed into the FAA’s eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP), support certification efforts, and establish best practices for safe, scalable vertiport integration across the nation. Using the Hollister site as an integration hub allows us to evaluate flight systems and infrastructure protocols in a realistic setting, building a strong foundation for future expansion throughout California and beyond.”

“Hollister Municipal Airport is proud to partner with Wisk in serving as a hub for advanced aviation innovation,” said Jeff Crechriou, Executive Director of Hollister Municipal Airport. “Hosting one of the nation’s first on-airport vertiports capable of supporting both piloted and autonomous operations puts Hollister at the forefront of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM). This facility demonstrates how regional public airports can seamlessly integrate cutting-edge eVTOL technology while supporting sustainable economic growth for our local community. We believe eVTOL becomes a reality through strong community support, and we are here to build that foundation.”

Located adjacent to Wisk’s existing flight test facilities, the 100-foot by 100-foot vertiport serves as a dedicated testbed for terminal area procedures, precision landing evaluation, and approach and departure profile validation.

Built to existing FAA vertiport standards using elevated steel structures, integrated solar panels, power banks, and taxiway connectors, the deployable facility can be easily adapted to future flight testing sites. The vertiport is equipped with proprietary transceivers installed directly on the pad to enable high-precision navigation testing under reduced- and zero-visibility conditions across all VTOL platforms. The site is prepared to host flight operations with surrogate helicopters and Wisk’s Generation 6 aircraft to evaluate terminal-area maneuvers, nominal landings, missed approaches, and precision touch-downs in GPS-denied environments.

The new vertiport also serves as a key infrastructure anchor for the California Advanced Air Mobility Corridors Initiative (CAAMCI), led by the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership (MBEP) to establish an FAA-compliant, multi-airport flight corridor connecting public airports across the Central Coast. The rapid construction and commissioning of the vertiport were made possible through close collaboration and coordination among key partners, including Hollister Municipal Airport, the City of Hollister, the Airport Advisory Commission, Caltrans, the FAA Local Airport District Office (ADO), and the FAA Office of Airports.

About Wisk

Wisk, a wholly owned subsidiary of Boeing, is an autonomous aviation company dedicated to creating a future for air travel that elevates people, communities, and aviation. Learn more about Wisk at wisk.aero.

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