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According to a January 2023 Economic Impact Study published by the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC), Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) is a new concept of air transportation that moves people and cargo between places not conveniently served by surface transportation or underserved by aviation — local, regional, intra-regional, urban — using revolutionary new aircraft that are only just now becoming possible. AAM covers manned and unmanned aircraft including electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft and electric Short Takeoff and Landing aircraft (eSTOL), and Small Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (sUAS), also known as drones.
Within a few years, passengers will take short, quiet, carbon-free flights within cities and suburbs, and between rural airports and urban centers. They will also fly between city pairs and rural airports at awkward distances currently not served by airlines, hopping on quick flights from Winchester, Blacksburg, Charlottesville, and Chesapeake to places like Washington Dulles Airport, the Capitol at Richmond, or downtown Washington, DC.
This comprehensive study illuminates the opportunities and challenges the AAM industry presents as it continues to rapidly evolve. In addition to exploring the social, business, and economic benefits, we also investigate the various uses of these aircraft to transport people and cargo, and perform a variety of functions for police, fire, forestry, agriculture, package delivery, and inspections.
Read the study in full HERE.
The VABA supports the Commonwealth's focus supporting and sustaining the development of infrastructure required to support full scale operations, enhancement and growth of Advanced Air Mobility in Virginia.
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