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By Philip Butterworth-Hayes
Over the last few weeks, United Arab Emirates (UAE) States have announced major advanced air mobility (AAM) eco-system development plans[1], with eVTOLs starting widespread commercial services there as early as 2025.
As well as, almost overnight, altering the market dynamics of the global AAM market, these programmes present some of the toughest challenges facing airspace planners in the world today.
In Dubai, passenger carrying eVTOLs, large cargo freight drones and personal flying vehicles will soon be sharing the same airspace. In Abu Dhabi, autonomous EHang eVTOLs – with built-in UTM systems – will also be sharing airspace with piloted Archer and Joby eVTOLs using independent UTM systems. At least three vertiport companies are also developing infrastructure in the emirate, some with approach/departure UTM services integrated into their design and others without. Earlier this month Ras Al Khaimah announced it was developing an AAM eco-system based on a network of Skyports vertiports.
The UAE is not alone. The airspace above Dallas Fort Worth will soon be buzzing with six drone delivery companies and two eVTOL commercial operators sharing the same, or broadly the same, airspace.
The rapid advance of AAM is overtaking many of the “crawl, walk, run” UTM development schedules which States had been planning. Early trials of multiple operators flying beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone missions in the same airspace are due to begin this year in many parts of the world, to test automated detect-and-avoid, communications and flight plan deconfliction tools. But before the results of these trials can be fully taken on board, airspace planners in Gulf States are now having to design operational UTM systems to manage a range of passenger-carrying operational vehicles flying in close proximity, with varying performance characteristics including piloted, remotely piloted and autonomous flight control systems.
Most early eVTOL-based AAM services will be based at current airports and fly VFR routes without the need for a UTM system. But in several cities of the world (see “The cities with complex airspace design challenges”) multiple eVTOL companies are planning to develop competing operations, which will require the establishment of complex UTM eco-systems if these operations are to scale as planned.