The New Transportation Economy - Powered By Decentralization
Using Our Air To Boost Our Wealth
When the sky opens up, we will have more flying vehicles, cargo drones, personal flying cars, flying taxis, normal aircraft, and new aircraft entering the system. The transformation to our lives and commerce will be orders of magnitude better than it is now. So what’s holding us back?
There are over 4,000,000 miles of roads in the United States. Moving directly ‘as the crow flies” is quicker than using these roads to deliver packages - we can use the skies more efficiently. There is a lot more airspace than roads. By developing the airspace into skyways, we relieve a lot of pressure on the roads and enable goods of all weights to move to and from their destinations faster and cheaper.
Air Traffic Control (ATC)
ATC systems are generally antiquated, funded by ever-increasing fees to airline passengers and fail regularly.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Airport Improvement Program (AIP) provides federal grants for airport infrastructure improvements. The program is funded through aviation fuel and airline ticket taxes and allocates over $3.3 billion for airport improvements.
Airports collect a Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) of up to $4.50 on most airline tickets, which is reimbursed to the airport of departure. The PFC generates over $1.5 billion in revenue annually.
Airlines are charged for overflights, which are flights that pass through another country's airspace. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), overflight charges can range from $500 to $10,000 per flight, depending on distance and aircraft size.
The taxes generated from overflights contribute to the revenue of countries with extensive airspace, such as the United States. The more charges put on do not open the skies further and encourage innovation, but it could. The airline industry is one of the biggest in the United States, with over 1.2 million employees, so it must innovate.
Each state plays a role in drones, flying cars, and other lower-altitude aircraft. This means an exciting balance between the federal government and the State government. We see the drive and determination to encourage private industry to develop this airspace across the States with localised low-altitude traffic being managed in communities. This saves the federal budget from expanding, additional charges on the public, and encourages competitive innovation in aviation traffic management.
Federal Budgets
The FAA's budget for 2023 was $23.6 billion, with the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF) contributing $12.9 billion (54.7% of the total budget). The budget includes $1.8 billion for the Office of Aviation Safety to support production oversight and continued improvement of the national airspace system.
There is no centralized repository for state-level budgets for flight innovation. However, individual states may allocate funds for airport infrastructure projects, research, and development through their respective departments of transportation, economic development agencies, or universities.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) oversees the safety, air traffic control, and airport infrastructure of the United States. The FAA's Office of Budget and Programs develops the agency's budget requests and provides budget justifications.
Air Traffic Control
If the low-altitude airspace were to open up tomorrow, the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system would break -down. It's not built for such expansion. We are in an era of technological expansion; rockets to Mars, AI and blockchain technologies are transforming multiple industries and have the power to enable low-altitude skies to be used. ATC is currently done with humans through voice in English. This means the current system is delicate and won’t expand quickly.
“You don’t have a “ground traffic control” when you drive, much less when you walk, even on a busy sidewalk” - J Storrs Hall, Where Is My Flying Car?
The solution is a decentralized system built by local communities to allow drones and flying cars to access private airspace and monitor it for accurate positioning. This takes the heavy financial burden away from government agencies, who oversee safety and design the system to properly incentivize the community to build and develop it for innovation and robustness.
Transportation Leap Frogs
Dubai has approved the construction of its first aerial taxi vertiport beside the main airport. The 3,100-square-meter vertiport will feature take-off and landing zones, aircraft charging stations, and parking areas. It’s designed to handle 42,000 landings and accommodate up to 170,000 passengers annually.
The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) will oversee and integrate the project with existing transportation systems. The service is expected to launch in early 2026, and the initial phase will focus on four key locations. This project is part of Dubai's vision to enhance multimodal connectivity, seamlessly linking aerial taxis with other public and personal transport forms like e-scooters and bicycles.
This is not the only vertiport planned. The helideck in NYC is being retrofitted with electrical chargers for flying taxis, and other locations in the US are in play.
The main issue with all this is that the utility of air taxis and cargo drones is not realised by having them in these existing locations that serve the needs of the older aviation model. They are failing to see the bigger picture.
As more people develop the network for airspace access, they also develop more opportunities for the physical infrastructure for drones and electric verticle take-off and landing vehicles (eVTOL). Cargo drones are helpful when they go from the port to the city and town’s warehouses. Delivery drones bringing groceries directly to homes are what people want. When you want an Uber, you don’t order it to pick you up 3 miles away and then walk to meet it; you want it where you need it, and this is the same for flying taxis.
As the community that owns the air rights permits low-altitude transit, it’s also primed to enable drone decks and vertiports where needed. This will connect people, boost tourism, and grow economies. The future is decentralized, community-built, and rewarded.