It's Not a Dystopian Future - Olympic Air Mobility
Low-Altitude Airspace Use Depends on Public Acceptance and Participation
Thank you to everyone for reading, I have been connected with some very exciting air mobility builders thanks to this newsletter and our work at SkyTrades. Enjoy this weeks read. jonathan@skytrades.io
It’s often in books or sci-fi movies we can see or conceptualise what the future might look like. Often it’s in dystopian ways where the robots take over our dishwasher and use AI to murder our families or something to that effect.
French President Emmanuel Macron's ambition to showcase Paris as a hub of technology and innovation during the 2024 Olympics may show us, in some way, what the future can be, and it’s not dystopian.
Visitors to Paris may witness Macron taking to the skies in a flying car. A move designed to offer passengers journeys over the city's historic landmarks, all at altitudes below 500 meters (1,640 ft) and in whose airspace is yet to be determined. The battery-powered aircraft, developed by Germany's Volocopter, is poised to inaugurate the world's first commercial flying taxi service.
The Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) vehicles resemble conventional helicopters but are propelled by 18 electric battery-powered propellers instead of rotors. Volocopter sees the Paris launch of their air taxi as a global technology showcase and the dawn of a new era in Urban Air Mobility (UAM). They see it slowly ramping up towards the end of the decade and we will see a full acceleration in the 2030s.
Numerous companies are currently developing similar eVTOLs, with investment bank Morgan Stanley estimating a potential $1.5 trillion market for eVTOLs by 2040. It appears that Volocopter's VoloCity is leading the pack, operating on two routes in Paris from five newly established vertiports.
Vertiports, eVTOL heliports, will serve as passenger terminals, with a platform by the River Seine. The VoloCity air taxi, piloted with one passenger and limited hand luggage, boasts a 35-kilometre range, operating multiple daylight flights. Quick battery swaps, taking just five minutes aim for continuous operation. They are on track to secure a safety certificate from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), with 1,500 test flights completed.
This performance at the Olympics aligns with Macron's vision of positioning France as a tech-savvy nation. Urban air mobility is an ideal means of showcasing this, as transportation is one of the biggest game changers in human existence.
Volocopter, valued at $1.7 billion with over $762 million in investments, already has a workforce of 700 employees and recently opened its first assembly line capable of producing 50 aircraft annually near Stuttgart, Germany. By 2030 they aim to produce between 5,000 and 7,000 aircraft annually.
UAM offers a viable solution to alleviate congestion and provide a new era of mobility with fewer emissions. The problem that many cities have is no viable option to grow their mass transportation systems or at least grow them properly and at an economic cost without taking to the air.
A New Era of Airspace Use
In May, the FAA unveiled an airspace blueprint, offering guidance on potential modifications to airspace and procedures to accommodate future electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxis. They outlined that these air taxis would initially operate within the existing helicopter structure.
There is a challenge in achieving eVTOL transport affordably, safely, and within existing aviation infrastructure. New infrastructure from the ground to the skies is required.
Identifying successful routes and corridors for both Urban Air Mobility (UAM) and Regional Air Mobility (RAM) involves an evaluation that considers several factors influencing their viability. Key considerations impacting route success encompass, operational infrastructure, permissioned airspace, geographical and physical characteristics, social perceptions and policy characteristics.
Operational Infrastructure
The available aircraft, airspace management, and landing infrastructure greatly influence the viability of a route. Collaborative support from various stakeholders within the system is crucial.
Permissioned Airspace
Having approved airspace to fly in is a fundamental matter for aviation. While the rules and regulations may differ from country to country and state to state, the underlying requirement to have permission to enter airspace is paramount. Who owns the air rights to grant permission to the airspace is a question of law, and in common law jurisdictions it is the owner of the underlying land parcel.
Geographical and Physical Characteristics
Physical features of the region, such as challenging terrains like mountains and existing road systems, as well as the state of the transportation infrastructure, have a significant impact on the feasibility of potential routes.
Social Perception and Policy Influence
Public acceptance and the stance of policymakers regarding the societal benefits of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) are pivotal in determining route success. Routes that serve areas with limited public transportation options and long travel times stand to benefit the most from AAM services. The increased speed of AAM can enhance travel convenience, especially if the fares remain affordable for a wide range of travellers. Support for such services is more likely to emerge in such scenarios.
Educating Air Mobility
Michigan Central, Newlab, and Code313 recently hosted Youth Drone Demo Day, a workshop introducing children aged 7 to 17 to the world of drones. The event offered hands-on experiences, including mapping missions, flight obstacle courses, and photogrammetry exercises. Attendees had the chance to pilot drones and learn about safety.
The aim is to ignite curiosity and demystify drones. The drone industry's rapid growth is projected to reach $90 billion by 2030. At the event, the organisers stressed the importance of early education. Code 313 emphasized the diverse career opportunities in the drone sector, with stations covering water studies, entertainment, mapping, and drone synchronizations. The event required no permits for recreational drone flights and they had the permission of the air rights holder to be in their airspace. The intent is to develop future programs for advanced drone certifications, recognizing these young minds as future innovators poised to shape the technology's future.
Low-Altitude Readiness
It is vital for the benefits of AAM services to be accessible to a diverse cross-section of society. Concentrating the advantages among a select group or companies will lead to opposition from underserved segments of the population. This opposition may influence political decisions, potentially creating challenges in obtaining approval for new infrastructure. This negative feedback loop can hinder progress for all parties involved. The need to have air rights holders in the ecosystem for a thriving AAM industry is one of the highest priorities.
The success of AAM routes relies on a delicate balance of operational readiness, regional characteristics, and societal acceptance. Ensuring widespread accessibility and benefits will increase the likelihood of success, and this can only be done by having communities of air rights holders at its core.