FutureFlight

The past week has been revealing for those trying to understand the role major aerospace groups are likely to play in cutting aviation’s dependence on fossil fuels. In the space of only four days, the world’s largest aircraft manufacturers announced strategic decisions that could reshape their role in sustainable aviation for the next two decades.

Australia’s Deakin University this month published a white paper evaluating the opportunities and next steps for what it calls Advanced Aerial Mobility (AAM) and the use of eVTOL aircraft for passenger and freight services. The report argues that the emerging sector offers a significant opportunity for Australia to develop high-tech businesses while highlighting the challenges related to regulation, safety, noise, and community acceptance.

The aviation industry is showing a growing interest in the potential for hydrogen propulsion as an alternative to battery-based electrical systems. In recent months, for instance, Airbus has increasingly signaled its intention to prioritize this aspect of its development work after testing two all-electric eVTOL technology demonstrators (the Vahana and CityAirbus).

EmbraerX continues to be extremely secretive about its plans to bring an eVTOL aircraft to market. Back in April 2017, the advanced technology division of the Brazilian aerospace group was named as one of the early partners for Uber’s planned air taxi network, but since then it has said little about its plans.

The Pathways to the Future of Transportation document was published on July 28, 2020, by the Non-Traditional & Emerging Transportation Technology Council (NETT) established by the U.S. Department for Transportation in 2019. At face value, the document appears to do little more than lay more groundwork for the NETT Council's mission of bringing innovators and entrepreneurs together to advance the adoption of new transportation technology. 

Even allowing for the hopefully short-term reduction of airline traffic volumes due to the Covid-19 pandemic, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions will triple by 2050, according to aviation consultancy Roland Berger. In fact, current annual levels of 1 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions had appeared likely to quadruple by 2050, but now emission levels are set to fall during 2020, followed by some “muted growth” anticipated for the next few years, according to a new study released by the company on July 21 during the FIA Connect event.

In his cover letter accompanying the FAA’s first version of the concept of operations (ConOps) for Urban Air Mobility (UAM), Steve Bradford, the agency’s chief scientist for architecture and NextGen development, admits that the document is a “work in progress.” Given the content and the reaction to it, that perhaps is an understatement. 

It takes a village and expert use of long-lens cameras to reveal all of the secrets that would-be eVTOL aircraft developers trying to keep under wraps. So kudos to The Drive's Tyler Rogoway and aviation photographer Jack Beyer for blowing the cover of what appears to be part of Toyota's plans to expand in this sector.

Deloitte has updated its research into consumer attitudes to urban air mobility (UAM), and the bottom line is that the industry has a ways to go in convincing the public that the concept has a viable future. The results are mixed but overall survey respondents came out at around 50/50 on the following key questions: is UAM a viable solution to roadway congestion and are passenger-carrying, autonomous aircraft safe?

Public acceptance of flights in autonomous electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft is increasingly emerging as a key enabler, or a potential stumbling block, for urban air mobility. So far, however, there has been little in the way of published research gauging where public attitudes currently stand on this issue.