Page 14 - AAA March / April 2023 Latest Magazine | GBP

certification is complete. ecotourism.

In Singapore, Volocopter plans to start oper- In China, Geely Aerofugia, a subsidiary of Chinese automaker
ations with tourist flights over Marina Bay Geely, unveiled a full-size demonstrator for its TF-2 five-seat
and Sentosa and then expand its network eVTOL air taxi in August last year. Also eyeing the market is
to include cross-border flights to Indonesia Shanghai-based startup Volant Aerotech, which has rolled out
and Malaysia. The company expects to the VE-25 X1 demonstrator for its planned piloted four-passen-
have four to six VoloPorts – likely in Marina ger eVTOL. Vertax, another Shanghai-based startup, will bring
South, Sentosa, and Changi - by 2030. Eve the Matrix 1, an autonomous five-seat eVTOL, to the market.
Air Mobility, Eviation, Lilium, Joby Aviation, EHang, AutoFlight, Pantuo Aviation, Volkswagen Group and
Volocopter, Tetra, Wisk Aero, Archer Aviation XPeng AeroHT are the other companies in what has already
and Supernal are among the companies become a crowded market. Unlike other companies in China,
hoping to make early inroads into the fledgling AutoFlight plans to certify its Prosperity 1 eVTOL in Europe first.
market. Apart from Airbus, industry bigwigs
such as Boeing and Bell are also in advanced Among the companies that is focused on regional air mobility
stages of developing UAM vehicles. Eve ended (RAM) is Italian company Manta Aircraft, maker of hybrid-elec-
2022 with a backlog to 2,770 eVTOLs; the tric vertical short takeoff and landing (HeV/STOL) aircraft. The
estimated value of the backlog is more than company is developing two versions of its aircraft – the ANN2
US$6 billion. In what can be seen as the first and the ANN4. The two-seater ANN2 is designed for personal
signs of the UAM market extending its reach transportation, law enforcement, and emergency medical support
to the defence sector, the company received while the larger ANN4 (four seats) targets business use, such as
a non-binding order from Embraer and BAE commercial air taxis and freight deliveries. Lilium is another com-
Systems for up to 150 eVTOLs that will be pany focused on RAM; the company is working on an aircraft with
used for defense and security applications. a range of up to 300km (186 miles, with the aim of connecting
entire regions with high-speed transport.
Eviation, which manufactures the nine-seater
all-electric Alice, announced in November last
year that the order book for the airplane had
passed a total value of US$ 2 billion. The com-
pany has its eyes on the commuter and cargo
markets and will produce three Alice variants
– one a nine-passenger commuter, the other a
six-passenger executive cabin, and an eCargo
version. All configurations support two crew
members. Designed for flights ranging from
150 miles to 250 miles, Alice has a maximum
operating speed of 260 knots. The aircraft,
which successfully completed its first flight
in September last year, can carry up to 2,500
lbs in the passenger version and 100 lbs more
in its eCargo version. The company expects
to finalize the design of the production Alice
version by 2025. The plan is to deliver aircraft
to customers in 2027.
Boundless Promise
In September 2021, Airbus unveiled a proto-
type of its piloted, three-passenger fixed-wing Although it is yet to truly take off, experts believe that the AAM
CityAirbus NextGen eVTOL; the company sector holds immense promise, fueled as it is by the growing
hopes to begin trial flights in 2024. The need to find an alternative to travel along increasingly congested
European aerospace group will soon start roads. With the urban percentage of the world’s population pro-
taking delivery of parts for the four-seat jected to reach 60 percent by 2030, The need for aerial travel
vehicle. In July last year, the company began to connect nearby urban communities will only grow with time.
work on a construction of a test centre for
the eVTOL at Donauwörth in Germany and While regional air mobility is tailormade to fill the gap in the
is spearheading efforts for UAM operations mobility space between long distance traditional air-travel and
in Italy and Germany. The European aviation road travel in the 100 km to 300 km range, short-haul UAM
powerhouse, which is also eyeing Japan for flights answer the need for transporting passengers or cargo
CityAirbus operations, is promoting the use within 100 km in urban and suburban areas. With technology
of its eVTOL aircraft not only for commuter developing rapidly, experts predict that aerial travel anywhere
flights but also for medical services and within a 200-kilometer radius in under an hour could become a

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