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Small, electric aircraft could transform city travel

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Industry hopes for liftoff next year

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Backers see fares on a par with car share

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Residents worry about noise, fairness and risk

By Carey L. Biron

WASHINGTON, June 12 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - It's

a bird...it's a plane...no, it's an air taxi and it's coming in

to land soon, prompting cities across the United States to get

ready for airborne urban travel.

Nobody yet knows exactly what an air taxi even is, how it

might look or who will get to use it, but cities know it's on

the way and want to be ready for takeoff.

None of the small, electric aircraft in development has yet

won full U.S. regulatory approval, but the process is underway,

with some companies vying to fly as early as next year.

"This is coming sooner than a lot of people think," said

Jacques Coulon, mobility innovation manager for the city of

Orlando in Florida.

The prototypes are far from uniform, with a host of

competing designs for rotors and wings. Some are flown by

in-vehicle pilots, others operate autonomously.

"While we haven't gotten an application, we'll probably get

one sooner than later, and we want to make sure we're prepared,"

Coulon told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Officials such as Coulon need to weigh the vehicles'

possible upsides - for the local economy, jobs and connectivity

- against potential problems such as noise, environmental damage

and fears about safety or fairness.

"What incremental changes can we make that allow for this

new, innovative mobility option to occur in a way that won't

negatively impact our existing neighborhoods," he said.

Referred to as electric vertical take-off and landing

vehicles (or eVTOLs), the vision is for small, electric machines

that can be used for local and regional transit, emergency or

medical services, and more besides.

Air taxis would operate more quietly and with less pollution

than existing air travel options, backers say, allowing for more

seamless integration into urban life.

New York, Paris, Dubai and others are already building

"vertiports", where air taxis could land and take off

vertically, said Maria Alonso, head of autonomous mobility for

the World Economic Forum.

She said cities in the United States, China and UAE were

leading the way in getting ready, but more attention was needed

from local policymakers.

"There's a real driving demand for this to happen quickly,"

said Brittney Kohler, legislative director for transport and

infrastructure at the National League of Cities umbrella group.

Cities see a potential boon in terms of greater connectivity

but are cautious, too, she said, about who will benefit.

"We want to make sure we aren't creating the same mistakes

(as we did) with aviation...that really irritated communities

and caused a lot of health and mental health impacts," she said.

PROS AND CONS

The Federal Aviation Administration last year released a

"blueprint" for the industry that envisioned the initial use of

these aircraft would be similar to that of helicopters, after

which air taxis would fly between airports and vertiports in

city centers, with flight corridors becoming more complex over

time.

The regulator plans for services starting by 2028, even if

some innovators hope to launch earlier.

For all their "transformative" potential, air taxis could

also be "very disruptive" to city life, said Adam Cohen, a

senior research manager with the University of California's

Transportation Sustainability Research Center.

While local governments will have significant say over where

they can take off and land, federal government controls the air.

Still, Cohen said cities have plenty of tools to address

local concerns - such as limiting hours of operation - and will

have a key role to play in ensuring the sector develops fairly.

"The public sector can play a really important role in

trying to encourage equitable outcomes based on where

infrastructure is located," he said.

"Also looking at policies that could possibly expand the

potential benefits to a broader segment of society - supporting

public good-use cases such as emergency response and aeromedical

use."

'CHANGE HOW CITIES ARE DEFINED'

Air mobility companies are already working closely with

cities to prepare for federal approval.

Wisk Aero, which last year was bought by U.S. aeronautical

giant Boeing ( BA ), is seeking approval for an autonomous electric

aircraft capable of carrying four passengers, with an eye on

launching in Los Angeles, Houston and cities beyond.

"Ground transportation is becoming more and more congested,

and we need solutions to transition to sustainability, but also

new tools for cities to serve their residents as best as

possible," said Emilien Marchand, the company's head of local

city partnerships.

The company hopes to start operating this decade, with a

fare similar to a luxury car share service, such as Uber Black.

"It will change how cities are defined," he said. "If you

think that now it will take you 15 minutes to cover 30 to 50

miles, that really extends the radius of what your metro is."

A study from California State University last year looked at

the potential economic impact of air taxis on Long Beach,

California, and found that a six-vertiport system (eventually

expanding to 20) would lead to more than 900 jobs in operations

and nearly $30 million in new, annual taxes.

Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said by email that the

sector offers opportunities to "advance job creation, increase

tourism, and establish new connectivity".

The American Association of Airport Executives studied four

airports and found that integrating air taxis within existing

airports "is achievable and that vertiport operations could

start soon and scale".

NOISY, RISKY, INTRUSIVE?

Cities such as Los Angeles are also trying to introduce the

technology to locals so as to assuage any worries.

"Concerns about flight altitude, the lack of active air

traffic control, and flyover noise have been raised," said

Francis Pollara, founder of Urban Movement Labs, a

public-private partnership working with the city on

preparations.

Pollara helped the city develop a public simulation space to

demonstrate the noise level of various aircraft in urban spaces.

Sceptics say the noise level is not the only unknown.

The town of Middleton, Wisconsin, said in September that the

FAA blueprint "appears to give little to no regard to the

quality of life, noise and safety concerns of people living on

the ground."

That's a concern for Arline Bronzaft, a professor emerita at

City University of New York and an expert on the impact that

elevated-train noise has on learning.

"A selling point is these make less noise, so it doesn't

intrude on people," she said, but that benefit could be

counterbalanced by the greater regularity of any air service.

"With more frequent sounds that can still be heard, it might

even make it more intrusive. We just don't know."

(Reporting by Carey L. Biron; Editing by Lyndsay Griffiths. The

Thomson Reuters Foundation is the charitable arm of Thomson

Reuters. Visit https://www.context.news/)