LONDON – Airbus and Italian flag carrier ITA Airways have announced their partnership in the eVTOL sector to develop an air taxi network in Italy.
The revolutionary step was taken by the two entities by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop and strengthen urban air mobility, along with the preparation of the launch of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) operations across Italian cities.
ITA and Airbus have also identified the potential areas of Advance Air Mobility (AAM), where both the entities will focus their resources on public acceptance of the initiative along with extended support from the local communities and local governments.
Speaking on this remarkable moment, Alfredo Altavilla, Chairman of ITA (AZs) stated that “the partnership between ITA Airways and Airbus started with the evolution toward more modern, more comfortable, and environmentally friendly commercial aircraft, equipped with cutting edge technologies.”
“With this agreement, our partnership expands to the segment of urban air mobility for a wider, customer-centric, innovative, and sustainable offer for our customers.”
Speaking on this occasion, the CEO of Airbus, Guillaume Faury said, “This agreement is testimony to the strong relationship between Airbus and ITA Airways.”
“It is an opportunity to leverage our shared ambition pioneering sustainable aerospace, and advance new air mobility solutions for zero-emission vertical flight in support of our cities and communities later this decade.”
CityAirbus NextGen Concept
Over the course of the past few years, Airbus has extensively diverted its resources to research and development of its eVTOL project, where the manufacturer has come up with the CityAirbus NextGen, an urban mobility gamechanger, which is still under developmental phase, with the first flight expected to take in 2023.
Airbus has mile-stoned CityAirbus NextGen’s European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification as early as 2025 under EASA Special Conditions VTOL regulation.
The new gamechanger CityAirbus NextGen will be equipped with fixed wings with a V-shaped tail portion and eight propellors bowered by electricity.
The CityAirbus NextGen will have a payload capacity of up to four passengers including a pilot with a range of over 50 miles at a cruise speed of 129KM/h (75mph).
CityAirbus NextGen falls under normalized dimensions of VTOL equipment like that of a few under development in the aviation industry.
After years of research and development that has been invested in the VTOL sector by Airbus, along with testing of multiple demonstrators like CityAirbus and Vahana, the research team along with engineers have decided on finalizing the craft type with wings and propellors untitled.
This revolutionary design will represent a significant change in the design approach in comparison with other demonstrators.
Airbus sustainable plans
Airbus has determined to its ZEROe program with dedicated resources being diverted towards sustainable aviation fuels (SAF).
Airbus in its vision 2035 has shown strong determination to adopt a net-zero emission policy, with research being diverted to develop hydrogen-powered aircraft.
The visionary program is being supported by the European Union and the French government with resources being directed to this revolutionary technology.
eVTOL segment is one of the initiatives running parallelly to the sustainable program of the Airbus where it is determined to ease urban mobility.
