Advanced air mobility

Can the United States afford to lose the race?

Article
 • 
24-min read
 • 
26 January 2021

Aijaz Hussain

United States

David Silver

United States

Table of contents

BY

Aijaz Hussain

United States

David Silver

United States

Endnotes

    1. Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), “Aerospace & Defense (A&D) industry profile.” View in article

    2. Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, “The first successful airplane.” View in article

    3. NASA, “July 20, 1969: One giant leap for mankind,” July 10, 2019. View in article

    4. Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), “Aerospace & Defense (A&D) industry profile.” View in article

    5. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, “Advancing aerial mobility: A national blueprint (2020).” View in article

    6. Deloitte analysis and estimates based on our 2021 Advanced Air Mobility Survey. View in article

    7. Deloitte analysis and estimates based on AIA, “2020 facts & figures: U.S. Aerospace & Defense,” September 2020. View in article

    8. Deloitte analysis and estimates based on our 2021 Advanced Air Mobility Survey. View in article

    9. Deloitte analysis and estimates based on AIA, “2020 facts & figures: U.S. Aerospace & Defense,” September 2020. View in article

    10. Deloitte analysis and estimates based on our 2021 Advanced Air Mobility Survey. View in article

    11. Ibid. View in article

    12. Deloitte analysis and estimates based on AIA, “2020 Facts & Figures: U.S. Aerospace & Defense,” September 2020. View in article

    13. Ibid. View in article

    14. Ibid. View in article

    15. Ibid. View in article

    16. Ibid. View in article

    17. eVTOL, “More than 200 eVTOL aircraft now in development,” September 9, 2019. View in article

    18. The Vertical Flight Society, “Vertical flight society announces continued strong growth,” January 2020. View in article

    19. eVTOL, “Joby partners with Uber, commits to launching air taxis by 2023,” December 20, 2019. View in article

    20. Agility Prime, “What is Agility Prime.” View in article

    21. EHang, “Self-flying EHang 216 showcases aerial sightseeing trips over the sea in East China,” July 14, 2020. View in article

    22. Ibid. View in article

    23. EHang, “EHang launches Guangzhou as its first global citywide urban air mobility pilot city,” August 6, 2019; EHang, “EHang drives forward UAM implementation in Europe,” August 14, 2020. View in article

    24. EHang, “EHang 216 obtained operational flight permit from Civil Aviation Authority of Norway,” March 5, 2020; EHang, “EHang 216 obtained special flight operations certificate from Transport Canada Civil Aviation,” July 29, 2020. View in article

    25. Ben Sampson, “German air taxi firms making progress on development programs,” Aerospace Testing International, February 19, 2020. View in article

    26. Sonia Wolf, “France to test ‘flying taxis’ from next year: operators”, Yahoo Finance, September 30, 2020. View in article

    27. Ben Sampson, “German air taxi firms making progress on development programs,” Aerospace Testing International, February 19, 2020; Volocopter, “Volocopter and Grab conduct air-taxi feasibility study in Southeast Asia,” February 18, 2020. View in article

    28. Volocopter, “Volocopter offers reservations for commercial flights,” September 16, 2020. View in article

    29. Lilium, “Lilium completes funding round worth more than $240 million,” March 23, 2020; Ben Sampson, “German air taxi firms making progress on development programs,” Aerospace Testing International, February 19, 2020. View in article

    30. Ibid. View in article

    31. James Jung, “South Korea to speed up commercialization of Urban Air Mobility by 2025,” KoreaTechToday, June 4, 2020. View in article

    32. Lim Chang-won, “UAM Team Korea launched for development of drone taxis in 2025,” Aju Business Daily, June 24, 2020. View in article

    33. Deloitte analysis and estimates based on our 2021 Advanced Air Mobility Survey. View in article

    34. Bell, “Bell discusses using virtual reality to design the future of flight,” June 15, 2020. iew in article

    35. NASA Aeronautics Research Institute, “Building resilient aerospace supply chain.” View in article

    36. Brian Garrett-Glaser, “The funding and talent shortfalls faced by electric air taxis,” Aviation Today, May 7, 2020. View in article

    37. Ibid. View in article

    38. Hillwood, “Hillwood wants to turn AllianceTexas into ‘mobility innovation zone’ for drones, autonomous vehicles,” June 12, 2019. View in article

    39. Ibid. View in article

    View in Article

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to recognize the following individuals for their contributions to this study:

Deloitte Advanced Air Mobility Advisory Board: Paul Wellener, Alan Faver, Dan Haynes, Erich Fischer, John Coykendall, Kate Hardin, Kerry Millar, Matt Metcalfe, Rasheq Zarif, Scott Corwin, Steve Shepley, and Chris Hewlett.

AIA Advisory Board: Kevin Coroneos and Karina Perez.

The authors would also like to thank Siddhant Mehra who helped with secondary research and survey data analysis; and Satish Nelanuthula and Srinivasarao Oguri who helped with online survey programming.

Cover image by: Peter Lloyd

 

EXPLORE MORE TOPICS IN THIS ARTICLE

  • Center for Energy & Industrials
  • Industrial Manufacturing
  • Future of Mobility
  • Aerospace and defense
  • Manufacturing
  • Aerospace & Defense