AIN Roundtable: Preparing for Advanced Air Mobility

The fast-emerging advanced air mobility sector is poised to bring eVTOL aircraft and other new technology to early adopter cities including Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Paris, and Singapore from 2025. AIN brought together experts from this exciting field to discuss what will be necessary to pave the way for new aircraft to enter commercial service and what this future might look like.  Here are some highlights from their main conclusions.

On Issues To Support the Launch of AAM

Matheu Parr (customer director, Rolls-Royce Electrical)

When we reflect on once we've got the technology certified, it is going to be essentially the aftermarket, the maintenance. How do we support these aircraft in operation? How do you get enough equipment, health management, monitoring, and capability in use? This is quite a significant challenge. Where are we going to stick those maintenance facilities? They're not going to look great on top of a vertiport, but they are going to have to be in a local [area] that allows rapid access. I think the whole aspect of how we maintain these aircraft is a big challenge that will be right on the back of infrastructure as we go forward.

Nate Ward (charging networks development lead, Beta Technologies)

Many of the advanced configuration aircraft coming online are fully electric, and fast charging is going to be foundational to their operation within the national airspace system. There are 5,000 general aviation airports just here in the U.S. that are publicly accessible. We think that as these next-generation aircraft come online, we need to be planning ahead to think about where they're going to go, how they're going to refuel, and where they're going to go next. We're subject to the operational limitations of a given aircraft: how far, how fast, in what weather, and with what payload. There are always trade-offs with any aircraft [to ensure] that you'll be able to go to a location, charge, and then go to the next spot.”

Adrienne Lindgren (head of city activation, Supernal)

When we talk about commercial operations, what do we need to do for the groundwork? Are we talking about maybe a 2025 timeline where you have a single route with low frequency under ideal conditions, or are we looking at expanding AAM to diverse geographical and weather challenges? That presents significant complexities, starting to feed into scale as we socialize the service. It introduces a different level of complexity, both from a technical perspective [and] from a public acceptance standpoint.

It's really about cultivating the market. We need to make that experience something that is attractive and as comfortable to people as their existing modes of transportation. Overcoming some of that historical reticence towards small aircraft through demonstrations, simulations, and direct engagement is a priority.

On AAM’s Dependence of Existing Infrastructure

Addison Ferrell (director of infrastructure, Skyports)

In the long term, we're going to have a mix of different ground infrastructure types, be that existing airports, big or small existing helipads and heliports, and then the new infrastructure, greenfield vertiports. Can we launch operations using existing infrastructure? Absolutely. And I believe that would be part of the proving ground for the industry.

But equally, do I believe that it can truly scale and meet the demands of the investors who poured so much money into it without net new infrastructure? No, because in any part of the world, if you look at commercial heliports, there just aren't that many of them.

To get people close to the places where they want to be, it really is critical to have new infrastructure, and even the existing infrastructure requires some upgrades or at least electrification in almost every case. [Existing infrastructure is] part of the solution but it can't in and of itself be the long-term solution.”

Kevin Cox (CEO, Ferrovial Vertiports)

We look at it starting with what's the quickest and most thoughtful path to commercial viability. To do that, you have got to bring the aircraft where the people are or where they want to go. Building one vertiport is not commercially viable. You've got to build multiple vertiports.

Our objective at Ferrovial is to go to the thickest markets where the [operators] are best positioned to bring the people the kind of customer service, convenience, and cleanliness that comes with this innovative technology.

Our goal and objective is not to build it and they will come, but to build it where the people want to go alone and they want to go quickly.

On Aircraft Recharging Needs

Matheu Parr

To tackle it, [we look at] standards and then capacity. We have a degree of standardization between the AAM players. We're looking at the same sort of automotive standards that are available today and how we can bring them into the airspace.

What modifications do we need to make? We're relying on a key capability like bus voltage—almost everyone is driving towards 800-volt buses. That does influence the infrastructure that's necessary onsite. We're also looking for the ability to turn around the aircraft within short periods.

When it comes to the capacity, we do think that there is a risk that you can look to operate these aircraft out of locations that may not necessarily have the correct civil engineering works in place to allow you to do the degree of rapid charge that you want.

Within the Rolls-Royce portfolio, we are making a containerized energy storage system where we take some batteries with containers traditionally used in data centers but perfectly placed to also be able to enable peak charging [as] a sort of battery backup to power.

Nate Ward

We've really worked hard to coalesce industry peers around a single standard. At the end of the day, access to reliable, fast charging is something that we're all going to need.

We've worked really hard to develop an aviation-specific fast charger. We call it a charge cube. It's got some core differences from the fast charger you may see on the side of the highway today. It’s just as powerful; it's going to run at a max of 320 kilowatts. And it's also going to have a 50-foot corded reel. So it's going to give you some operational flexibility on the ramp. We've had a lot of success in having conversations with others who need similar technology.

Adrienne Lindgren

I think that promoting standardization and interoperability in charging infrastructure is quite essential. In terms of sort of grid capacity and how we get there, I would probably emphasize early coordination and planning into the existing electrical infrastructure and upgrades that are currently being planned.

For major metropolitan areas, one of the hang-ups has been not having that early coordination with utilities with other stakeholders and then finding out what was cost-variable and what was expensive later versus earlier. For us, communicating our requirements is going to be essential.

Kevin Cox

We support the goal of standardizing charging. But we look at it more holistically—that it's not just the charging piece, it's just not the turning-on-the-lights piece. It's a whole ecosystem in terms of the electrification that's got to occur.

Various elements go into that. We're talking primarily now about standardization of the chargers. At the same time, we've got competing companies doing competing things. Our objective is to try to coalesce around solutions that work for everybody.

If we are not capable of finding that pathway forward on the charging systems, then it's our goal and aspiration to be able to accommodate everybody.

On Working through Airspace Conflicts

Addison Ferrell

The FAA has been fairly conservative when you talk about eVTOLs for cargo [and] passengers. They can follow the same rules of the national airspace system today.

That's true in many nations around the world. Helicopter routes exist today. Approach and departure obstacle limitation surfaces exist today. In many respects [an eVTOL] can fit right in. It shouldn't be that big of a problem from an airspace perspective—especially because we're talking about an industry that's going to start in low volume and gradually scale over time.

Airspace for eVTOLs, we see as an important consideration in urban areas with the obstacles. But in terms of the rules of the road, it slots right in, and we feel like it will actually work quite well.

Kevin Cox

These aircraft, except for being electric and going up and down vertically, can and will—for a foreseeable time—operate just like any other aircraft in VFR conditions.

When you're bringing them into highly urban areas, you've got to deal with issues of potential corridors that could follow existing helicopter paths. It gets a little more complicated when you're flying in congested larger airports, and how you get those aircraft in and out of there. You don't want a [Boeing] 777 in tow of a four-seater aircraft.

Adrienne Lindgren

We're not going be darkening the skies overnight, but we are focused on working with the FAA and with other partners to understand what is required to operate, especially given our entry into service timeline, looking at 2028.

What is required to operate in densely populated airspace environments and potentially adverse weather conditions? What can we do within the existing confines of rules, regulations, and procedures without major disruption to the status quo? Our focus has been on transparency in how we collaborate on airspace.

On Regulatory Concerns

Matheu Parr

We are seeing strong engagement from regulatory authorities. They recognize a clear customer demand for these aircraft and that they need to engage.

There is a risk today that we see a divergence between FAA and EASA that leads to a slower adoption rate as aircraft manufacturers have to manage two different standards.

But in the conversations we have with both those agencies, they want to drive a closer alignment. It comes down to they have a principal role to ensure passenger safety, and they're not going to compromise that.

While I appreciate the pace and the time they are spending to understand this industry, I also really appreciate the rigor and that they're not going to be rushed. Nobody wants to get into one of these aircraft and have an experience any less safe than the previous aircraft that they used to travel in.

I think 2028 is about when they expect to be ready to support the operations of these aircraft.

Nate Ward

Certainly, harmonizing on a global standard is important in the U.S. market. Beta and the FAA have the exact same goal: we want something that's certifiable, of course, that's safe, that's replicable. We totally agree on all those things.

We're already out operating in Class Bravo and Charlie airspace on a regular basis today, integrating with other aircraft that are there. These aircraft will be well ahead of 2028 out there operating in the NAS. Beta made the decision to go forward at 2025.

I certainly appreciate the importance of having fuel requirements in place. Beta has worked hard on this topic [for] something that's just a commonsense approach and not looking for special treatment.

Electric vehicles work in kilowatts. How can we think about a new energy source in a way that makes good common sense? When you're coming in on short final and you're a little bit low, you want to know you have the power you need. Those are the kinds of conversations that we're having.

Addison Ferrell

There's guidance that comes from the FAA for what infrastructure should look like. The FAA has been very engaged. Maybe [the guidance is] not perfect, but it's a demonstration that an engaged body is there to support the industry.

We may not agree with every single thing in that guidance, but it's not a fundamental blocker to the launch of the service. In other countries, we're also getting similar guidance with regulations for the infrastructure.

Will it evolve over time? Yes. Are the things that we think can be improved in those early drafts of the document also? Yes, but it's a great starting point. And it's not something that keeps me up at night.

On Getting Cities on Board

Adrienne Lindgren

From where we started there to where we are now, we've seen significant progress. I do think there's some room to figure out who's the right facilitating body to look across the cities and tease out best practices for implementation, both for the purposes of creating standardization across those different geographies and also to help each geography along in the process.

Every site is different, every community is different, and they will require different strategies to be successful in developing that infrastructure. So, pivoting towards that public process can't be disregarded.

The fact is, there can be also risks that are introduced if it’s not done well in a particular place. We all have a vested interest in the industry in trying to get to the best service possible, safest service, and an attractive service that people want in the places they want to go as cost-effective as much as possible.

The Bottom Line

Matheu Parr

When we look at the billions of investments that have been made into these aircraft, it's clear to us that we can enable an AAM mobility solution of hundreds of aircraft operating.

But our expectation is this market will start a lot smaller, this market will start effectively in helicopter channels while we understand that full ecosystem. For us, it's the engagement across all the players that is necessary at the moment.

Kevin Cox

As this ecosystem unfolds, AAM is going to look a lot like the other businesses that are already involved in [transportation]. In fact, it'll just be another part of the public transportation infrastructure.

I firmly believe there will be a tipping point [and] there will be a recognition of how quiet, how quick, and how convenient these are. Cities, municipalities, and private developers will see the benefit of this.

It will start with the path of least resistance in those cities and communities that are leaning forward.

Addison Ferrell

There will be a few distinct launch markets [where] we can bring together the various elements of the ecosystem all at once. The benefit of that is it will be a showcase for the rest of the world and other markets. They'll be able to see the commercial viability of it and the benefit of it, and just the way that it can integrate into the fabric of the cities.

Nate Ward

One of our fundamental goals of Beta Technologies is to do our part to turn the corner on climate change. That's why we've leaned in not only to try to develop industry-leading aircraft but also to support the whole ecosystem.

I think this technology is coming a lot sooner than people realize, and it's going to scale sooner.

You'll see launch markets first. But today, it's 2 percent or 3 percent of airports serving 70 percent of the traffic, and there's all these other locations. When you think about the magic of aviation, whether it be cargo, logistics, health care, access, work from home, or tourism—that’s when you fundamentally change the operating economics. It's going to be a whole new world.

Adrienne Lindgren

Cities are continuing to grow. Populations continue to centralize around some core locations.

In the same way that we went underground to move people around, we need to go aboveground. We need all the different sorts of possibilities to move people through cities effectively.

And the future is very green. There is something exciting about adding a new mode of transportation that augments an existing system and gives people more choices, more flexibility, and more opportunity to go places.

The really exciting part is how you connect to different places, especially in the populated environments that today are just hard to move around.