Page 12 - AAA January / February 2023 Latest Magazine | GBP

In October 2019, the company success-
fully completed its first manned flight over
Singapore. According to the Singapore
Roadmap that it released in February last
year, UAM services will generate SGD 4.18
billion in cumulative economic benefits to
Singapore by 2030, besides creating about
1,300 local jobs. The company’s consumer
study in Singapore revealed that 72 percent
of those surveyed expressed high interest in
flying in an air taxi.

In Singapore, Volocopter plans to start oper-
ations with tourist flights over Marina Bay
and Sentosa and will then expand its network
to include cross-border flights to Indonesia
and Malaysia. The company expects to have
four to six VoloPorts – likely in Marina South,
Sentosa, and Changi - by 2030. The EH216 is in demand in Indonesia as well; the company has
received an order to supplying 100 EH216s to Indonesian avi-
ation company Prestige Aviation. Soon after EHang performed
Hectic Activity in Asia
its maiden pilotless trial flights in Japan, the company received
China’s eVTOL plane developer EHang has a pre-order for 50 air taxi units from helicopter service provider
also made sizable inroads into the nascent AirX.
market. In March, the company will carry out
the first flight of an eVTOL in Latin America; Air taxis have gone from concept to almost-a-reality in other Asian
the company will use the autonomous EH216 countries as well. U.S.-based Supernal, a Hyundai Motor Group
model for the demonstration flight in Curitiba, subsidiary, revealed its initial eVTOL vehicle cabin concept at
Brazil. The Chinese firm will, through its rep- the 2022 Farnborough International Airshow. The air taxi, which
resentative in Brazil, AT Global, also seek has a five-seat cabin, will be battery-powered, and is scheduled
approval of the National Civil Aviation Agency to start intra-city passenger journeys in 2028. The company is
(Anac) for manned UAM flights. The EH216 partnering with industry bigwigs such as BAE Systems, Honeywell,
has three variants - EH216S for passengers, and Microsoft as it develops the air taxi. Hyundai Motor Group’s
EH216F for firefighting and EH216L for trans- Korea-based division focused on regional air mobility (RAM) is
porting goods. meanwhile developing a hydrogen-powered mid-sized vehicle
for regional cargo and passenger journeys; the aircraft is likely
Meanwhile, Spain’s National Police announced to start operations in the 2030s. Startups have emerged on the
in October last year that it has introduced the scene in countries such as India and Malaysia as well.
EH216 to its fleet of smaller UAVs. EHang is
also currently in discussions with a range of
potential customers in the Iberian Peninsula. The European Scene
The Chinese company is also working with In France, Volocopter is working with Paris Airports and the city’s
authorities in Europe to help usher in UAM public transportation authority (RATP) to make UAM operations
operating systems and services. In November a reality in 2024. At the Paris Air Forum In June 2021, the eVTOL
last year, the company announced that it is developer flew its aircraft uncrewed and then followed it up in
one of the participants in an EU-funded proj- March last year with crewed flights. In September, M3 Systems,
ect, the SBAS (EGNOS) Adoption in Multicopter Pipistrel, and Volocopter successfully completed their first joint
VTOL Aircraft (SAMVA) project, for deploying Deconfliction Flight Tests at Pontoise airfield, with M3 System’s
European Geostationary Navigation Overlay BOREAL remotely piloted aircraft system, Pipistrel’s crewed Velis
Service (EGNOS) on eVTOL aircraft operations, Electro, and Volocopter’s full-scale, remotely piloted 2X prototype.
such as the EH216.
In November, Paris Airports, Skyports Infrastructure and
EHang has also expanded its footprint in Asia. Volocopter commissioned Europe’s first fully integrated vertiport
In May 2022, the company formed a joint ven- terminal, the Re.Invent Air Mobility testbed at Pontoise-Cormeilles
ture with CP Group, one of Thailand’s largest airfield. The facility, designed by Skyports in collaboration with
conglomerates, to offer air taxi services in Paris Airports, is aircraft agnostic and offers the entire ecosystem
the country. The JV came in the wake of the the chance to test and develop their technologies. The company’s
EVTOL company signing a strategic part- Volocity aircraft completed its first flight in conventional air traf-
nership with Aerotree, a Malaysian firm, to fic near Paris the same month. According to company CEO Dirk
co-develop urban air mobility (UAM) business. Hoke, work on preparing the aircraft for certification is ongoing.

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