LONDON – The UK is plowing through a new era of clean energy, fast, safe, high-tech, and efficient forms of urban transportation.
Urban-Air Transport opens Air-one, the world’s first demonstration of a fully-functioning hub for eVTOL (Electric Vertical Take-Off Landing) vehicles to be based in Coventry.
Urban-Air Transport reveals Air-One, a fully functioning ‘drones only’ airport. These drones or vehicles can be used for Air-Taxis, fire and rescue, law enforcement, and shipping.
There are many drones and air-mobility vehicles in the market, including Airbus and Embraer venturing into these segments.
Aims of Air-one…
Nevertheless, Urban-Air Transport offers a space for these vehicles to interconnect with other domains of public transportation and eradicate the problems of the lack of certified spaces for take-off and landing.
Ultimately, the aims of Air-one are to:
- Reduce Traffic Congestion on roads
- Cut air pollution and support a carbon zero world
- Integrate with public and private electric vehicles
Urban-Air Transport’s idea wins the heart and minds of many, including receiving support from the UK government and Supernal, a large-sized air mobility vehicle manufacturer.
Urban- Air Transport plans to open Air-one in Coventry for a month, and will provide a viable blueprint for other future planned 200 ‘vertiports’ globally within the next 5 years, to capture the anticipated demand.
UK Government: Revolutionary Times Ahead…
Robert Courts, Aviation Minister for the UK Government said:
“British innovation has a rich history of transforming global transportation, from the creation of the railroads in the 1800s to the growth of great British brands such as Jaguar, Triumph, and Rover in the 1950s.
“The opening of Air-One, backed by Government funding, will revolutionize the way people and goods travel across the nation.”
“This step forward puts. Britain at the vanguard of clean transport, bringing investment and high-skilled, green job opportunities to the nation while leveling up opportunity in the Midlands.”
Mike Whitaker, Chief Commercial Officer of Supernal, expressed:
“Air-One serves as a valuable, tangible asset to helping build stakeholder confidence and trust in emerging mobility technology and supporting systems.”
“The Coventry demonstration is an important first step forward to reimagining how people across the world will move, connect and live.”
“Developing a scalable system to support advanced air mobility operations requires collaboration from all industries and corners of the world.”
“Supernal’s support of Urban-Air Port reinforces our belief in infusing technology and innovation to enable humanity and society to reach new levels of potential.”
Expansion Elsewhere…
Urban-Air Transport is also eyeing to expand its concept from its Coventry ‘testbed’ to countries like Germany, South Korea, and the United States.
The advanced air mobility (AAM) market is poised for aggressive growth. It is estimated that the industry is to grow 9% year-on-year to reach USD $1 trillion within the next two decades.
The market may be rapidly growing with an abundance of eVTOLs manufacturers, as having been mentioned like Airbus and eHang. There is a lack of infrastructure on the ground to support the operations of such vehicles.
The Urban Air Mobility (UAM) study by NASA stated that the biggest barrier to growth is the infrastructure itself.
The ‘whatever comes first the chicken or eggs dilemma’ exists in the AAM market: do the vehicles come first or the (vertical) ‘airports’.
This problem is also experienced in the EV market. The question of whether Urban-Air Transport is here to solve the problem is yet to be seen.
