By Philip Butterworth-Hayes
November 6 2023

There are now 170 cities, regions and states in 55 countries around the world developing plans for advanced air mobility (AAM) and urban air mobility (UAM) aviation services. In the USA there are 46 city/regional UAM programmes underway, 20 in Germany, 15 in China and 13 in Brazil.

The initial UAM services are due to be launched in China and France next year with a single eVTOL type; Korea, USA and Japan will launch UAM networks featuring different eVTOL platforms in 2025 and in 2026 the UAM transport revolution goes global.

“That, at least, is the timetable to which eVTOL manufacturers are working,” said Philip Butterworth-Hayes, compiler of the report. “Those countries who see AAM and UAM as a strategic political imperative, requiring close cooperating between government departments and industry, are winning the race. The last few months have seen the emergence of Saudi Arabia as a new global force in the eVTOL sector – investing in eVTOL manufacturing and announcing a national network of eVTOL regional services and the NEOM-based urban air mobility network – while Denmark has become an increasingly attractive first adopter for longer range, electric powered fixed-wing AAM passenger services.”

Our basis for these rankings:

1. Declared launch date by OEM/city/eVTOL operator.
2. Progress on infrastructure development and regulatory/certification approvals
3. Support to infrastructure development, regulation and financing by national governments.
4. Availability of regulations and standards – or declared process of exemption.

Please note: This list does not include eVTOLs used for first responder operations. An “E” denotes our estimate for launch services, which may differ from the declared launch date of stakeholders; some project leaders may have declared an earlier date which we have revised.

“There are some very big caveats around many of these programmes, mainly surrounding the timeline for certification of infrastructure,” said Butterworth-Hayes. “While vertiports are currently being designed and developed to guidelines issues by regulators, only Dubai has a full set of mature vertiport certification standards available.”

“The last few months have also seen airports around the world start to take a serious interest in UAM and AAM. The first electric charging points are now being implemented in European and US airports and strategic development masterplans are starting to include AAM/UAM facilities.”

(Image:Shutterstock)