Advanced Air Mobility: Building a National Vertiport Network for eVTOLs

National Strategy for Advanced Air Mobility

• 🇺🇸 The US Department of Transportation has launched the first "Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) National Strategy" to foster aviation innovation.
• ✈️ AAM focuses on safely integrating highly automated aircraft, typically operating below 5,000 feet, to transport people and packages more efficiently.

Infrastructure and Vertiport Networks

• 🏗️ Landings, led by CEO Lisa Wright, is developing a network of rural vertiports to expand AAM access across the US.
• 🌐 The focus has shifted from individual vertiport projects to multi-site networks, offering strategic advantages for cargo, emergency services, and eventually passengers.
• 💡 Wright emphasizes building coordinated, regional vertiport systems rather than isolated landing pads.

Challenges in Infrastructure Development

• ⚡ Energy access is a primary hurdle, with competition from data centers for power in desired locations.
• 🔋 Landings is addressing energy needs through dedicated teams, financing equipment, working with utilities, and providing battery backup systems.
• ☀️ Self-contained, off-grid landing areas using renewable energy like solar (5-10 acres for 1-2 megawatts) are a viable solution, storing power with batteries for peak demand.

Vertiport Network Scale and Cost

• 🏘️ Landings plans to build 2,000 small, micro vertiports (minimum 1.5 acres) to ensure landing and charging availability within 30 minutes across a dense network.
• 💰 This approach aims to reduce costs compared to larger, more elaborate vertiport designs.
• 🤝 The first network in upstate New York includes diverse use cases like agriculture, entertainment, existing airports, and public-private partnerships for medical and first responder services.

Air Traffic Control and Coordination

• 📡 AAM aircraft operate at different altitudes and communication wavelengths, allowing them to bypass existing air traffic control systems.
• 🛰️ New Air, a nonprofit, is developing a separate airspace management system for heavy drones and eVTOLs.
• 🚦 Coordination is still necessary, especially near towered airports, and for aircraft transitioning between different airspace types.

Real Estate and Business Model

• 🔑 Landings secures real estate through option agreements, similar to cell towers, rather than immediate leases or purchases.
• 🛠️ The company handles feasibility studies, engineering, and equipment financing, sharing revenue with property owners once operations begin.
• 📈 The biggest recent change is the industry-wide shift from focusing on individual vertiports to the strategic importance of network development.

Future Outlook for AAM

• 🔮 Within 5 years, Lisa Wright envisions that most people will have tried an AAM flight.
• 🚀 The development of AAM, particularly for passenger transport, is progressing faster than initially anticipated.