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What if airline products were reengineered?
Published in Nawal K. Taneja, Airimagination, 2023
The technology to offer air-taxi services for limited distances already exists, but it is easy to imagine the technology evolving to the point that this kind of service could become viable for short-range distances. As such, air travel on an almost personalized, and on-demand, basis could become possible. As a result, a new airline, or a division of an existing airline, could eventually become, at least for short-range distances, a kind of “Uber of the Air.” Related to this point is the prospect of unmanned vehicles whose costs could make personalized service to specific starting and ending points much more attractive. The key point to keep in mind is the increase in urbanization based, presumably, on the increase in household incomes. According to one set of figures, 16% of the world’s population lived in urban areas in 1900. The percentage increased to 30% in 1950 and to 50% in 2007 and is expected to increase to 68% by 2050.3 Consequently, with a growth in populations, urbanization, and congestion, the concept of urban air mobility has always made sense. However, the technology, namely, conventional helicopters, was not cost-effective. Now, with the availability of electric propulsion, the urban air mobility concept is becoming much more plausible in a sizable market, estimated to be about $30 billion by 2030.4 Think about the VX4, being developed by Vertical Aerospace. See Figure 2.1. It is being designed to be “faster, quieter, greener, and cheaper.” According to the planners, it is being designed to fly over 200 mph, produce virtually no noise when in flight, produce zero emissions, and have a lower cost per passenger transported. The aircraft is expected to carry four passengers and a pilot and have an initial range of 100 miles, with a lower cost per passenger transported. Vehicles such as these would be game-changers in urban air mobility.5
The Technology Readiness and Acceptance Model as a Predictor of Pilots’ Willingness to Operate in UAM Integrated Airspace
Published in The International Journal of Aerospace Psychology, 2023
Lakshmi Vempati, Paul Myers, Scott R. Winter
Urban Air Mobility refers to urban use cases which can include a variety of use cases/mission types and aircraft sizes and types. Initial operations are anticipated to be operated with a pilot on board in the near term before transitioning to fully autonomous operations in the far term. With some operators intending fully autonomous operations, differing operational models present further complications. According to current operations projections, by 2035, the eVTOL market is expected to rise to $230 billion with potentially 200,000 eVTOL aircraft (Porsche Consulting, 2018). Recent studies on demand analysis and market potential project AAM passenger services offered in 4-to-6 seat aircraft could serve more than 80,000 passengers daily (Goyal et al., 2021). The adoption of advanced mobility services is expected to occur in six phases with at scale, commercial, fully autonomous operations expected in 2042 (Lineberger et al., 2021). The Alliance for System Safety of Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) through Research Excellence (ASSURE) conducted a research task to understand the emergence of UAM and forecasted demand for domestic passenger markets for diverse operational needs and their findings suggests approximately 85.4 million advanced passenger mobility trips will be made in 2045 (Olivares et al., 2022). This study aims to understand factors that will determine a manned aircraft pilot’s willingness to operate an aircraft in a fully integrated environment. The study will provide industry, the FAA, and other stakeholders with essential information to understand and, if needed, target those factors to facilitate pilot willingness to operate in airspace with UAMs.
Urban air mobility: from complex tactical conflict resolution to network design and fairness insights
Published in Optimization Methods and Software, 2023
Mercedes Pelegrín, Claudia D'Ambrosio, Rémi Delmas, Youssef Hamadi
Urban Air Mobility (UAM) designates air transport systems that will move people and goods by air within and around dense city areas. Its purpose is to help smooth urban ground traffic despite the increasing population density. It has been estimated that around 45% of commuters could benefit from this new paradigm, when the roads are highly congested [4]. UAM will exploit new electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOLs) aircraft to carry passengers and freight. It will also rely on existing urban infrastructure to define specific take-off and landing stations for these aircraft, known as vertiports. Operating eVTOLs over large and densely populated areas will require an organized approach able to balance efficiency and safety [1,11].