Page 27 - AAA NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2018 Online Magazine

FUTURE

VISION

Urban air mobility could bring
an entirely new dimension to
the way we live

Special Correspondent

oerg Mueller recently experienced just how easy urban The service will be launched in other megac-
travel can be. After landing at the airport in São Paulo, ities in 2019 and beyond and will continue to
Brazil, he used Airbus’ on-demand helicopter booking lay the groundwork for Airbus’ longer-term
Jplatform, Voom, to take him directly to his hotel. “In rush vision of urban mobility using electric vertical
hour traffic, that journey can take two hours,” says the Head take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles. “Voom
of Programmes and Strategy for Urban Air Mobility (UAM). “It has proven to be an awesome mechanism for
took me just 11 minutes of flight time.” us to glean key insights into the potential of
the on-demand air mobility market and pas-
Voom is currently operating in São Paulo and Mexico City, and senger preferences, and we are constantly
the demand is already impressive. relaying those insights to the UAM team,”
says Monnet.
“Thousands of passengers have used the service
and many of them were flying in a helicopter for the Realising that future vision is the task of
first time,” Voom CEO Clement Monnet. Airbus’ new UAM unit, established in June
2018. Voom is just one part of the unit, which
hosts the ongoing UAM activities across the
company, from air traffic management to
infrastructure development, including part-
nership building and pilot projects. It also
steers the development of Airbus’ ongo-
ing eVTOL demonstrators, Vahana and
CityAirbus.

Air taxis will number 15,000 and become a
global market worth US$32 billion by 2035,
with aerial delivery and inspection services
adding on another US$42 billion, a study by
Porsche Consulting predicts.
Understanding Cities
A key responsibility for the new unit is under-
standing how UAM can introduce an added
mobility solution to a city’s existing network

ASIAN AIRLINES & AEROSPACE November/December 2018 | 27