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COLUMN

LIFT OFF FOR

ADVANCED AIR MOBILITY

opportunity is clearly compelling!

But despite movements being made by new manufacturers and
major OEMs alike to develop and manufacture the next gener-
ation of air transport, there are still many regulatory hurdles to
overcome to take the next step to full commercialization.

Across the globe, progress in regulatory
approvals giving the green light for AAM

Around the world steps are being taken by aviation regulatory
organizations and airworthiness certificates are now within
reach. In Europe a 2021 assessment from the European Union
Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) expects air mobility to become a
reality in the next 3-5 years, all being made possible thanks to
the ground-breaking developments produced by early leaders
in the AAM industry.

In Asia multiple start-up businesses have taken an interest in
Rob Mather, Vice President, Aero- AAVs and especially Electric Vertical Take-off and Landing aircraft
space and Defense Industries at IFS (eVTOL), with some organizations already applying for certifi-
cations from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
North America having previously seen the FFA focusing on the
All eyes on regulatory changes, infrastructure to support AAMs, has released information regard-
ing the design and operation of facilities needed to support
sustainability benefits and eVTOL aircraft initially.
societal change
A few major leaps in the right regulatory direction have been
The use of Advanced Air Vehicles (AAVs) in spearheaded by Joby Aviation. The organization recently received
the commercial sector might just be in the its Part 135 Air Carrier Certificate from the FAA ahead of sched-
start-up stages compared to the defense ule, allowing for commercial air taxi operations, which is one of
sector, but in the past year alone it has seen three FAA approvals required to operate AAVs. Furthermore, at
vast amounts of investments with $7 billion the beginning of November 2022, the FAA proposed its criteria
in new investments being made in 2021. This for the Joby Aviation Model JAS4-1 eVTOL air taxi aircraft to be
more than doubles the investments across the certified—providing an example of how eVTOL certification would
previous ten years, and in the U.S. alone, the work in practice.
industry is expected to be worth $115 billion
by 2035 and employing over 280,000 people. AAM boosted by sustainability benefits and
We definitely have lift off. governments backing societal benefits

With this sort of development and investment Short-haul flights are estimated to account for 17 per cent of total
it is no surprise that 63per cent of organi- airline CO2 emissions by McKinsey, AAM has the potential to help
zations attending a recent IFS Advanced Air alleviate these problems with electrification and hybrid propul-
Mobility (AAM) webinar felt that new revenue sion of standard airframes for short haul and regional distances
opportunities were the greatest potential ben- below 800 Nm. There are also positive environmental benefits to
efit of AAM for their organization. The market be had with AAM replacing other forms of transportation—think

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