Higher, Faster,and Greener

DID you ever imagine that one day youcan hop into a flying taxi， just like inthe sci-fi movies， hurtling among skyscrapersand cities？

On August 18， life took a closer step to fictionas a low-altitude passenger transport routeopened， going from the Shanghai Pudong InternationalAirport to the Kunshan City Terminalin neighboring Jiangsu Province. The trip， coveringapproximately 85 kilometers， took around25 minutes.

One month later， on September 30， Beijingunveiled a plan to develop the low-altitudeeconomy over the next three years. The visionis to nurture the sector as a key driver of coordinateddevelopment of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. The capital aims to become ahub for innovation in the low-altitude economyand a national demonstration zone. The goalsinclude fostering over 5，000 related enterpriseswithin three years， and an industry worth RMB100 billion.

The applications include emergency rescuing，low-altitude logistics distribution in selectdistricts， low-altitude passenger routes betweenthe Daxing International Airport and Xiong’anNew Area， where many administrative wingshave been relocated， intercity air commuting，and cultural tourism. By 2027， more than 10replicable application scenarios for low-altitudeeconomy will be formed in Beijing.

The latest stimulus for this drive came fromthe third plenary session of the 20th CentralCommittee of the Communist Party of China inJuly， which adopted a resolution on deepeningreform. In this document， the Party decides tobuild a comprehensive transportation system"to develop general aviation and low-altitude economy.

Beijing’s urban mobility has undergone threemajor changes， said He Tianxing， vice-presidentof Guangzhou EHang Intelligent TechnologyCo.， Ltd. From horse-drawn carriages to cars，and then to the subway， the changes divertedthe city’s traffic layout from its central axisto the circling six ring roads， and then to theunderground rail transit. “This is， in essence， aprocess of decentralization of transportation，and will resolve ground traffic congestion. Wecan imagine the bold future， with low-altitudeaircraft flying over Beijing. It is not just a revolutionin transportation， but also of people’sliving environment，” said He.

Europe Shares Its Dreams

On September 26， Beijing hosted an internationalforum on airworthiness and safe developmentof the low-altitude economy. The participants，who were from the aviation industry in China andEurope， discussed prospects across the globe， the"electric vertical take-off andlanding （eVTOL） aircraft andits role in urban air mobility（UAM）.

August 11 was a red-letterday. On this day， Volocopter，the German aircraft manufacturerspecializing in designingvehicles meant to be used asair taxis， conducted the world’sfirst eVTOL flight test. Earlyat dawn， its two-seater aircraft took off from thegrounds of the iconic Versailles Palace. It was a fittingfinale to the Paris Summer Olympics as it wasthe last day of the Games. Prior to this， Volocopterhad successfully completed a crewed test flightat the nearby Saint-Cyr-l'École Airfield， the firstbespoke commercial vertiport for eVTOLs.

The two flights validated eVTOL operations， acritical step to make electric flights a norm in thecity and beyond. It is a phase of immense significancefor the entire innovative air mobility （IAM）industry as it provided practical knowledge for"integrating eVTOLs in vertiports and airspaces inmegacities worldwide.

Interestingly， the vertiport at the Saint-Cyrl'EcoleAirfield is built by Groupe ADP， the Parisbasedinternational airport operator， which isalso a longstanding partner of Velocopter. “Withthis flight， the partners begin their operationalvalidation phase， a pre-commercial test seriesto mature the eVTOL ecosystem in France，” saidJoyce Abou Moussa， a deputy director at GroupeADP. “This includes flight maneuvers to and fromthe vertiport， ground handling， communicationwith air traffic control， and battery charging andmanagement at vertiports.”

Groupe ADP has a unique position in Europedue to its integrated network of airports. It operatesthe three main airports in Paris – Charlesde Gaulle， Orly， and Le Bourget， in addition to anetwork of airfields in the region including ParisHeliport.

Moussa said besides cities， advanced air mobility（AAM） – using next-generation remotelypiloted， autonomous or eVTOL aircraft – is alsobeing used in some remote and inaccessible regions，playing an increasingly important role intransporting personnel， medical care， and commercialresources. She expressed confidence inits future as AAM means zero-emission aviationby making aircraft electricity-powered andhighly autonomous.

Maria Krylova， a senior counselor of FrankfurtAirport， talked about Lilium at the conference.Founded in 2014， Lilium Air Mobility，headquartered in Munich， Germany， has manufactureda jet for air taxi service， capable of carryingfour to six passengers， or just for logisticsservices. Lilium is seeking the airworthinesscertificate issued by the EU Aviation SafetyAgency and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administrationas well as from China.

The Subversive Potential

There is also collaboration cutting acrossborders. Eve Air Mobility is a prime example ofthat. It is a subsidiary of Embraer， the Brazilianaerospace corporation. The Sao Paulo-basedcompany recently received a US $88 million"loan from Brazil's state development bankBNDES for its first production facility.

Augustine Tai， head of business developmentfor the APAC region at Eve， said its eVTOL aircrafthas a cruising range of around 100 kilometers andcan carry four to six passengers. The aircraft iscompletely electricity-driven and emits 80 percentless carbon dioxide compared with cars. It alsominimizes noise by 90 percent compared with helicopters，and the commuting cost is less than onefifth of that of helicopters. “Its human-centereddesign ensures the safety， accessibility and comfortof passengers， the pilot and the community，” Taisaid.

Compared with traditional aircraft， eVTOLgenerates less noise and is eco-friendly， economic，and comfortable. It has subversive potential inlow-altitude transportation， logistics， sightseeing，medical first aid， and other scenarios， and is likelyto have a trillion-dollar market and broad developmentprospects， becoming a new engine of socialinnovation and economic development.

At the conference， the UAM Working Committeeof the Chinese Society of Aeronauticsand Astronautics was formed. Zhu Tianzhu，assistant director of Management Committee ofBeijing Daxing International Airport EconomicZone， said the committee will be a pool of intellectualresources and a professional platformto promote the low-altitude economy and UAMdevelopment.