Even by the standards of the precocious advanced air mobility (AAM) sector, Saudi Arabia’s Neom project looks pretty “out-there.” With deep-pocketed government backing, the idea calls for the development of a vast new urban conurbation in the northwest of the kingdom where the desert meets the Red Sea, including an “industrial city” called Oxagon and a residential community called The Line that will extend for just over 100 miles and house a population of 1 million people.
Adding to the futuristic theme, developers say Saudi Arabia’s fossil fuel wealth will allow Neom to be powered entirely from renewable energy sources, with “zero cars, zero streets, and zero carbon emissions.” In place of ground vehicles, people and things would move around in new eVTOL aircraft now in development with an anticipated range of between 20 and 150 miles.
This vision has drawn AAM start-ups including Germany’s Volocopter to offer its two-seat VoloCity electric aircraft as lynchpins for Neom’s public transportation network. And eVTOL adoption could extend further across the kingdom, with Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) last year signing an agreement to buy 100 of the six-passenger Lilium Jet eVTOL vehicles.
For several years Dubai has seemed a likely AAM early adopter, as authorities have shown interest in both an early version of Airbus’ VoloCity and EHang’s fully autonomous EH216-S, which in October became the first eVTOL model to achieve type certification when the Civil Aviation Administration of China gave its approval for commercial services to start.
Now, AAM could return to the agenda in the UAE following the October 16 signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) and eVTOL developer Archer Aviation. The inward investment agency has pledged to back the U.S. start-up with financial incentives and direct capital expenditure to establish its Middle East headquarters in Abu Dhabi. Plans also call for local manufacturing of aircraft and the launch of air taxi services with its four-passenger Midnight vehicle from 2026 after completing FAA type certification by the end of 2025.
Air Taxis to Launch in Abu Dhabi and Dubai
Archer also aims to launch services in neighboring Dubai and is displaying an example of Midnight at the Dubai Airshow. Later next month, the all-electric vehicle will be on display at the Conference on Aviation and Alternative Fuels, which the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) will host in Dubai.
In addition to the agreement with ADIO, Archer also signed MoUs with local companies Falcon Aviation and Global Aerospace Logistics and the Advance Military Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul Center (GAL-AMMROC). Falcon, which operates a fleet of fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, plans to operate air taxi services with Midnight, which would fly as far as 100 miles, but with the optimum commercial range expected to fall between 20 and 50 miles around urban areas.
In June 2022, Abu Dhabi-based Falcon Aviation announced plans to operate eVTOL aircraft in partnership with Eve Air Mobility, starting with services from the Atlantis luxury resort in Dubai. Falcon also has expressed interest in developing and operating vertiports.
GAL-AMMROC plans to provide technical support for the operation and could also involve itself in manufacturing the Midnight for the local market. Since its establishment in 2007, the Abu Dhabi-based company has expanded its portfolio of services, including modifications and upgrades with customers and partners such as Lockheed Martin, for which it supports C-130 military transport aircraft and Black Hawk helicopters.
Archer said it intends to develop an engineering center of excellence in the UAE to support the growth of AAM across the Middle East. The company plans to develop a presence in the Gulf region that could include establishing its international headquarters in Abu Dhabi. The recent MoU also calls for the company to open manufacturing facilities in Abu Dhabi’s Smart and Autonomous Vehicle Industries cluster. The company’s investors include Abu Dhabi government-backed Mubadala Capital, as well as automotive group Stellantis, Boeing, and United Airlines.
Officials from the GCAA recently visited Archer’s headquarters in California. “Our goal is to approve Archer’s air taxi to fly in the UAE as soon as it is certified by the FAA, and we are very excited to collaborate with them to bring electric air taxis to the country,” commented the air safety agency’s director, Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi.
At the World Government Summit in February, Dubai's ruler HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum confirmed long-standing ambitions for the emirate to add eVTOL air services to its transportation network. A promotional video released by the government featured a simulation of Joby Aviation's four-passenger vehicle operating around Dubai's iconic urban landmarks.
In October, ADIO announced that Joby is expected to establish a presence in Abu Dhabi's new Smart and Autonomous Vehicles Industry cluster. This facility is in Masdar City and is intended to provide a launch pad for advanced technology for air, land, and sea transportation services.
With its fixed-wing and canard accommodating 30 electric ducted-fan motors, the seven-seat Lilium Jet’s architecture is markedly different from other four-passenger eVTOL vehicles. According to Sebastien Borel, the company’s vice president for business, a superior lift-to-drag ratio will support a range of 155 miles carrying a pilot and up to six passengers. Consequently, Lilium sees itself as a pioneer in developing new regional air mobility point-to-point networks of scheduled services.
Based on current battery technology, which Lilium expects to advance significantly in the next four to six years, the company says the Lilium Jet could connect the seven emirates of the UAE. Such a plan would include shuttle services to ferry commuters between the most populous hubs of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, for which an increasingly congested road trip of just under 90 miles now presents the only option. Borel also anticipates eVTOL services to link Abu Dhabi with Fujairah and to support neighboring Oman’s green tourism industry.
First Vertiports Planned in UAE
The first vertiport for eVTOL aircraft in the UAE looks set to be at Ras Al Khaimah International Airport where a Montreal-based company called VPorts has signed an agreement with the emirate’s Department of Civil Aviation to establish a facility on a 2.5.-acre site. Earlier this year, VPorts also finalized agreements with Falcon Aviation, eSTOL aircraft developer Electro.Aero, and Japanese eVTOL start-up SkyDrive to establish an AAM business park at Dubai’s Mohammed bin Rashid Aerospace Hub.
Saudia has yet to provide details of its plans to launch regional eVTOL services with the Lilium Jet, although the aircraft does feature in marketing materials for the flag carrier’s recent rebranding exercise. With far greater distances between the country’s major cities, it seems likely that, until available battery reserves increase, services would remain within conurbations, such as linking Jeddah’s airport with the Red Sea waterfront district of the Corniche. Connections between Dammam and nearby Bahrain and Qatar might also present early cross-border eVTOL opportunities.
A cabin mock-up of the Lilium Jet is on display at the Dubai Airshow. It depicts the four-passenger configuration that Lilium has developed for business and private aviation clients. The standard version of the aircraft for scheduled regional flights seats six passengers.
According to Borel, the Gulf states now view electric aviation as part of their response to commitments to transition to a net-zero carbon transportation system. “Both the range and commercial strategy for the Lilium Jet make the region a good fit,” he told AIN.
As it works toward initial type certification of the Lilium Jet by European regulator EASA, Lilium has already engaged with civil aviation authorities in both the UAE and Saudi Arabia. It also remains in contact with other jurisdictions in the region.
The region’s high temperatures have presented an engineering consideration but Borel said the power demands for the aircraft’s air conditioning system will not compromise range. By contrast with existing turbine-powered aircraft for which sand can pose maintenance challenges, electric aircraft developers don’t expect exposure to the same risks because they don’t have combustion chambers. “We will have special coatings for the [electric propulsion system] blades for aircraft in the Middle East, but it is all very manageable,” he concluded.
Legacy Airframers Have eVTOL Plans Too
Start-ups like Archer and Lilium have maintained a high profile in the race to bring eVTOL aircraft to market, in part due to their ongoing fund-raising efforts. But legacy aircraft manufacturers and established aerospace leaders including Rolls-Royce, Honeywell, Collins Aerospace, Safran, and GKN Aerospace stand prominently among the key systems suppliers for the new aircraft.
Airbus Helicopters already is building the first prototype of its four-passenger CityAirbus NextGen eVTOL vehicle at Donauwörth in southern Germany. With a projected range of 50 miles, the all-electric aircraft will start flight testing in 2024, according to the manufacturer, as it works toward type certification by the end of 2025.
Airbus envisions its eVTOL serving in multiple applications that could first include emergency medical service support ahead of passenger transportation. It has engaged with prospective stakeholders to develop use cases in countries including Saudi Arabia as well as Japan, Italy, Germany, and Estonia.
After experimenting with several advanced air mobility concepts, Boeing has turned its attention to eVTOL developer Wisk Aero. Earlier this year it assumed full ownership of the California-based company, which began as a joint venture with Kitty Hawk, founded by Google co-founder Larry Page.
Just over a year ago, in October 2022, Wisk rolled out what it calls its Generation 6 eVTOL design, which would fly to a range of 100 miles. Wisk’s approach differs from most of its rivals in that its aircraft will only operate autonomously with no pilot on board. Given that no defined path to FAA certification exists on that basis, the company accepts its aircraft will enter service later than others, by around the end of the 2020s. Now building the first prototype, Wisk expects to start test flights in 2024.
Textron is also playing a somewhat longer game than start-ups under pressure to deliver early returns to its investors. The company targets type certification for its Nexus eVTOL in around 2030. Textron’s helicopter division Bell first rolled out the concept in early 2019. Now the group’s eAviation division, which former vice president of global parts and distribution Kriya Shortt has led since late August, has assumed responsibility for the program. Textron’s bandwidth for electric aviation innovation gained a significant boost with the acquisition in 2022 of Slovenia-based Pipistrel, which has already certified its Velis Electro training aircraft and plays a leading role in European efforts to develop hydrogen propulsion.
Hybrid-electric Propulsion
Boosts Payload and Range
Some innovators in the emerging AAM sector are unwilling to be constrained by the payload and range limitations of current battery technology, prompting start-ups like France’s VoltAero to concentrate their efforts on maximizing hybrid-electric propulsion options.
VoltAero’s Cassio family of regional/utility aircraft will carry between five and 12 passengers, with a maximum range of around 800 miles, or just under 100 miles when using battery power alone. The fixed-wing aircraft are powered by a combination of Safran’s EngineUs 100 electric motor and a four-cylinder thermal engine produced by Kawasaki Motors, which is also an investor in the company. Akira Technologies supports VoltAero with the integration of the hybrid propulsion unit and it also supplies the gearbox.
The numerical designations of the three Cassio models—the 330, 480, and 600—reflect their respective kilowatt power ratings. Before the end of this year, VoltAero expects to start flight testing the first Cassio 330 aircraft in mid-2024 and use the subsequent second prototype for its type certification program. The company recently started construction on its new headquarters and final assembly line at Royan-Médis Airport in southwest France.