Airside operations Clear skies ahead?
In February 2022, the eVTOL sector received some unwelcome news. In an SEC filing, Joby, a US drone company, admitted that one of its machines had crashed during a test flight in the California countryside. Among other things, it appears the eVTOL was being flown at 270mph, around 70mph faster than the drone’s supposed top speed. In light of the incident, Joby was unsurprisingly keen to reassure the industry. As the company put it: “Safety is a core value for Joby, which is why we have been expanding our flight envelope with a remote pilot and in an uninhabited area, especially as we operate outside expected operating conditions.”
Without the need for control towers or endless runways, the Singapore vertiport will only require 25m2
of tarmac for its operations.
company says, “a customer ticket will likely cost more than other forms of public transportation – but significantly less than helicopter rides and will offer much more efficient travel”.
This focus on speed and accessibility hints at how eVTOLs could be used in practice. By cutting the rigamarole from air travel, they are perfect for short urban trips, carrying busy passengers between neighbourhoods, or from suburban airports to downtown hotels. Given they are likely to supplement existing transport infrastructure, it should come as no surprise that traditional airports are also interested in eVTOLs. Near Paris, for instance, Pontoise-Cormeilles Airport has begun work to become Europe’s first vertiport, with Volocopter conducting flight trials in early 2022. Across the Channel, Heathrow hopes to be flying air taxis to Cambridge by the middle of the decade, possibly cutting the journey by up to an hour compared with land-based vehicles. More to the point, Volocopter is keen to emphasise the need to liaise with traditional airports, even if vertiports ultimately end up looking quite different. They might not have long runways, but these facilities will still need to contend with local officials, civil aviation authorities and anxious local residents.
$7m McKinsey & Company 34
The potential cost of a vertiport facility, depending on size and mission.
Beyond the question of passenger transportation, meanwhile, industry insiders are increasingly excited for what eVTOLs may do for freight. As Dass puts it, if an eVTOL can comfortably transport four people, imagine how many packages it could carry instead? In a similar vein, experts are also exploring the power of unmanned flying vehicles. Wingcopter is a case in point. Capable of flying at 90mph, the German company’s unmanned drones may soon be used to deliver medical supplies to remote rural clinics. Skyports, for its part, has invested heavily in so-called ‘drones as a service’, allowing customers to outsource their delivery needs to Dass and his colleagues. Given institutions as varied as the UK’s Royal Mail and the NHS are doing just that, it seems clear that this approach has potential.
Of course, the broader implications here should not be exaggerated – not all drones are bound to be flown at such reckless speeds. Even so, the Joby crash does signal some of the potential issues around eVTOLs, particularly when it comes to safety. Though regular aircraft have had over a century to secure the affection of punters, these newcomers are largely unknown. No wonder, then, that manufacturers are pushing to get their machines approved by regulators. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), to take but one example, is liasing with Volocopter to develop rules around keeping both passengers and ground crews secure – a process Volocopter describes as “overwhelmingly positive”. On 24 March, as a result of these discussions, among others, the EASA released a 179-page document as the world’s first official guidance for building vertiports for air taxis and other eVTOL aircraft. In the US, the Federal Aviation Association (FAA) is hard at work developing its own guidelines.
Another challenge involves technology. Though eVTOLs have come far over the past decade, Dass warns that issues remain, with charging stations needing particular attention. To put it bluntly, even the best batteries will soon become dead weights without the ability to recharge. But, just like Volocopter’s work with the EASA, companies like Skyports are pushing forward, integrating charging and energy infrastructure into their vertiports. That dovetails with other developments – such as ensuring that machines enjoy greater flying stability than regular helicopters. Similarly, the cost of developing vertiports could prove prohibitive, particularly in the early days of the technology, with management consulting firm McKinsey & Company estimating that each vertiport facility could cost between $200,000 and $7m to build. Though he concedes that a new world will not arrive tomorrow, Dass believes that eVTOLs will likely mature into a fully-fledged industry over the next few decades. “If you include the whole Greater London area,” he says as an example, “you might expect about 50 vertiports.” The miraculous future envisaged by Popular Mechanics is not here just yet – but it is getting closer. ●
Future Airport /
www.futureairport.com
Volocopter
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