Introduction to air mobility vehicles
Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is an industry being a part of the future urban landscape, is a term used to describe the systems that enable on-demand, safe, highly automated, and passenger and cargo-carrying air transportation services in a metropolitan environment for manned and unmanned aircraft systems. The urban air mobility market framework comprises of infrastructure, technology, and business. Infrastructure and technology are most significant factors required for the growth of urban air mobility.
The UAM industry vision involves leveraging new vehicle designs and system technologies and development of new airspace management and operational procedures and embracing sharing and services economy to enable a new transportation network services. The use cases envisioned for UAM include operations expected to enable improvements in efficiency and safety as compared with ground transportation. For instance, one of the application might involve taking an air taxi to commute from a suburban location to a downtown building. Other examples include airlifting passengers from harmful situations during a natural disaster and providing tourists new sightseeing opportunities by air.
Various participants include a range of aircraft manufacturers, from established aerospace companies, Governments and municipalities, as well as UAM service providers and integrators are also focused on developing the technology in coming years.
Market Size and Forecast
The urban air mobility market is anticipated to record a CAGR of around 14.4% over the forecast period i.e. 2019-2027. The market is segmented by operations into piloted and autonomous out of which piloted air mobility vehicles segment is anticipated to capture the major share of market on account of air traffic, infrastructure and handling system; by range into intercity and intracity out of which, the intracity segment is likely to hold the major share of urban air mobility market on account of raised traffic in cities.
As per report by NASA, there are 5,660 heliports in the U.S. (most are not public-use) and 9,750 civil helicopters in the fleet. The market is expected to grow steadily over the next 10 years, from $8.2B in 2017 to $11.6B by 2027.
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Growth Drivers
Intercity Flights
The longer the distances flown, the more important forward speed becomes. 4D unmanned traffic management systems should keep minimum hovering times. Fixed-wing vectored thrust will be the most efficient solution for this use case and the solution of choice for urban air utility.
Inner city point-to-point services
Multi-copters (highly distributed propulsion aircraft) and quad-copters might become the solutions at the time of traffic. Their low downwash speeds are kinder to and safer for urban environments, avoiding damage or injury caused by gravel or sand projection on small landing pads. High gust stability could also prove advantageous where skyscraper helipads are used, thereby maximizing up-time even in harsh weather conditions.
Suburban to urban services
High forward speed is better suited to cover longer distances and poorer hovering efficiency, higher downwash speeds and more noise mean air mobility vehicle will require dedicated and better-developed landing areas. Tilt-wing/convertible aircraft concepts, hybrid concepts as well as fixed-wing vectored thrust concepts might become predominant for this business model.
Growth Restraining Factors
High cost of air mobility devices acts as the key factor for restraining the market growth in coming years.
Information and Communication Networks
UAM operations rely on many critical information and communication services provided from ground systems, such as command or control links, ground-based detect and air navigation services. Criticality levels and associated performance requirements need to be defined.
Infrastructure for Ground Operations
While some operations may take place from existing helipad locations, large infrastructure is required for landing and takeoffs for handling the expected density of operations. Henceforth, the infrastructure needs to be developed for urban air mobility.
Environmental Implications
UAM system has the potential to bring numerous environmental impacts, especially noise. There will be noise from aviation operations in areas that are not accustomed to such disturbances.
Market Segmentation
Our-in depth analysis of the urban air mobility market includes the following segments:
By Component
- Infrastructure
- Platforms
By Operations
- Piloted
- Autonomous
By Range
- Intercity
- Intracity
By Region
On the basis of regional analysis, the urban air mobility market is segmented into five major regions i.e. North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East & Africa region.
North America region is panned to observe substantial growth in the urban air mobility market on the back of high per capita technology expenditure, increasing prevalence of traffic and availability of advanced transportation facilities. This has resulted in people spending more on better transportation facilities. Furthermore, increasing demand for new product launches and technological advancements in the region is also projected to influence the market growth positively.
North America region is expected to be followed by Asia Pacific region due to increase in population and rising budget of major economies like China and India. Rising investment in upgrading to latest technologies supported by the rise in advanced transportation facilities in the region, has boosted the market growth at a high rate.
Middle East & Africa region is expected to hold a moderate share in the urban air mobility market over the forecast period due to gradual increase in the usage of different highly advanced products especially in the GCC countries.. Numerous government and private organizations are working toward developing air mobility vehicle to address the increasing demand in the region.
The urban air mobility market is further classified on the basis of region as follows:
- North America (U.S. & Canada) Market size, Y-O-Y growth & Opportunity Analysis
- Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Rest of Latin America) Market size, Y-O-Y growth & Opportunity Analysis
- Europe (U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Belgium, Netherlands & Luxembourg, NORDIC, Poland, Turkey, Russia, Rest of Europe) Market size, Y-O-Y growth & Opportunity Analysis
- Asia-Pacific (China, India, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Rest of Asia-Pacific) Market size, Y-O-Y growth & Opportunity Analysis.
- Middle East and Africa (Israel, GCC (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman), North Africa, South Africa, Rest of Middle East and Africa) Market size, Y-O-Y growth & Opportunity Analysis
Top Featured Companies Dominating the Market
- AIRSPACEX
- Company Overview
- Business Strategy
- Key Product Offerings
- Financial Performance
- Key Performance Indicators
- Risk Analysis
- Recent Development
- Regional Presence
- SWOT Analysis
- CityAirbus (Airbus Helicopters)
- Lilium Aviation
- Hoversurf
- Jetpack Aviation
- VerdeGo Aero
- Embraer and Pipistrel
- Lilium
- EHang
- Volocopter
- Honeywell
