Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: Bring Back the Pan Am Skyport for Flying Cars

New York once landed passenger helicopters on a Midtown rooftop, in the middle of the workday, as a normal way to reach the airport. I want that spirit back – updated for the electric age. The proposal is simple to state and big to build: study reopening the old Pan Am Building rooftop as a modern skyport for electric air taxis, and explore whether the Empire State Building could one day host an elegant landing platform of its own.

This is not nostalgia for its own sake. Electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft – eVTOLs – are moving from prototype talk to flight demonstrations, and robotaxis are on their own long road to the street. The city that built the subways, the great bridges and Grand Central has a chance to lead urban aviation instead of watching smaller cities take the first routes.

The Empire State Building Was Designed to Meet Aircraft

Start with the most famous silhouette in the city. When the Empire State Building opened in 1931, its developers imagined airships arriving from across the Atlantic and docking at a mooring mast at the top of the tower, with passengers descending straight into Manhattan. A skyscraper was meant to double as an international transportation terminal.

The airship plan never became practical, and nobody should pretend otherwise. But the instinct was sound: architecture and aviation belong in the same conversation. Nearly a century later, small electric aircraft give that old idea a realistic second draft. A modern platform would need serious structural engineering, strict operating limits, aviation approvals and safety systems that respect the building’s landmark status, its neighbors and the crowds below. That is why the right next step is a study, not a ribbon cutting – invite architects, manufacturers, engineers and preservation specialists to test whether it could work at all. I made a related case in my look at why New York has America’s best architecture: this city’s buildings have always carried its ambitions.

The Pan Am Rooftop Already Proved the Concept

The stronger precedent sits a few blocks north. The Pan Am Building – today the MetLife Building – stands directly above Grand Central Terminal, and in 1965 New York Airways began scheduled helicopter operations from its rooftop. Travelers could leave Midtown and fly to the region’s airports instead of surrendering the whole trip to traffic. Rail below, aircraft above: integrated transportation, decades before the phrase became fashionable.

Honesty about the ending matters. The heliport closed permanently following a fatal accident in 1977, and any revival has to start from that history, with rigorous protections for passengers, workers and the streets around the building, plus full structural, operational and regulatory review. What I am proposing is a comprehensive feasibility study for an entirely new generation of rooftop infrastructure – electric, quiet by design compared with the old helicopters, and built around modern safety systems.

The location argument has only grown stronger. Grand Central still ties Midtown to the whole region, ringed by offices, hotels and restaurants. A rooftop terminal there could connect to JFK, LaGuardia and Newark, with digital check-in, accessible boarding and reservations linked to ground transport – a traveler steps off a train, rides an elevator and boards an aircraft in one coordinated trip. The Pan Am name still carries the glamour of aviation’s golden age; a revived skyport could honor that heritage in its design rather than erase it.

The Aircraft Are No Longer Science Fiction

Companies including Joby Aviation and Archer Aviation are developing electric aircraft for short passenger hops, and Joby has already demonstrated operations in the New York region, including flights connecting JFK with Manhattan heliports. Those demonstrations matter because they move the discussion from renderings to real flight paths over real water.

The city also owns a head start: an existing heliport network. Downtown Skyport, East 34th Street and West 30th Street could, with charging infrastructure and careful operating plans, support the first commercial routes once certifications and approvals are secured. This builds on the case I made when I wrote that New York could become the world’s eVTOL air taxi capital – the pieces are arriving, and the city’s job is to put them together deliberately.

Robotaxis Complete the Trip

The street level has to move too. Waymo and Tesla are both pushing autonomous vehicles toward commercial service, and New York – dense pedestrian flow, cyclists, buses, delivery traffic, intersections that change by the minute – is the hardest test in America. A system that proves itself here earns credibility everywhere.

The pairing is the point. Picture one booking: a robotaxi collects you at a hotel, drives you to a vertiport, and an electric aircraft leaves for JFK on a schedule that adjusts to traffic and flight times. Business travelers could buy back the hour they now lose to the Van Wyck. None of this replaces taxis, buses or the subway. It adds a layer on top of them, which is how New York has always grown – and why the city keeps its pull, as I argued in my case for New York as the top travel destination of 2027.

What Should Happen Next

Three concrete steps would turn enthusiasm into a program. First, commission the feasibility study for the former Pan Am rooftop. Second, open a design and engineering exploration for the Empire State Building, with preservation experts at the table from day one. Third, keep upgrading the waterfront heliports for electric readiness and give autonomous vehicles a licensing path built on clear safety and accessibility standards. The region’s finance, technology, university and real estate talent would have a shared project worth organizing around – with real work in it for engineers, charging specialists, architects and construction crews.

New York imagined zeppelins docking above Manhattan, then actually landed helicopters in Midtown. The technology has finally caught up with the imagination. Bring back the Pan Am skyport – carefully, safely, and with the confidence this city does best.

Originally published on Times Square Chronicles.

Also published on: