On-Demand Aviation Services for Mobility, Logistics, Emergency Response, and Humanitarian Use Cases (2024)
Chapter: Introduction
Introduction
Aviation is undergoing a transformation. Advancements in technology are enabling innovations in urban, regional, and on-demand aviation. These innovations are converging to inspire new use cases and business models. Advanced air mobility (AAM) enables consumers to have access to air mobility, goods delivery, and emergency services through an integrated and connected multimodal network. Several companies have designed and tested enabling elements of the urban air mobility (UAM) concept, including prototypes of vertical takeoff and landing–capable aircraft, operational concepts, and market studies to understand potential business models. While AAM may be enabled by the convergence of several factors, several challenges such as community acceptance, safety, equity, issues around planning and implementation, airspace, and operations could create challenges for airports and barriers to mainstreaming.
The Transportation Research Board’s (TRB’s) Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) was directed by the ACRP Oversight Committee to convene an Insight Event on the topic. The “On-Demand Aviation Services for Mobility, Logistics, Emergency Response, and Humanitarian Use Cases” Insight Event was held on July 10–11, 2023, at the Keck Center of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Washington, DC, to address several key goals, including:
- Supporting institutional readiness and capacity building for AAM among airports and public agencies.
- Helping public sector stakeholders prepare and integrate emerging practices into planning, policy, and operations.
- Identifying potential areas for research that could help inform public policy at all levels of government.
“On-Demand Aviation Services for Mobility, Logistics, Emergency Response, and Humanitarian Use Cases” fostered cross-sector discussion, information sharing, and collaboration on the emerging topic of on-demand aviation. More than 85 people from public sector organizations, private companies, nongovernmental organizations, and educational institutions attended. Government, industry, and academic thought leaders participated in panel discussions about opportunities and challenges, planning issues, community acceptance, research, and next steps needed to support aeromedical, emergency response, humanitarian, and other on-demand aviation use cases. The Insight Event also highlighted the importance of safety, infrastructure (physical and digital), stakeholder engagement, governance, and security to guide the future of AAM. The full list of registrants is provided in Appendix A.
The Insight Event commenced with opening remarks from Marci Greenberger of the Airport Cooperative Research Program and Adam Bouchard of Hillsborough County Aviation Authority. Bouchard served as the event’s emcee. Following opening remarks, Day 1 featured two panel discussions, a fireside chat, and evening remarks. Day 2 consisted of a fireside chat, four panel discussions, and a town hall. What follows is a factual summary of each session, concluding with a list of the key topics explored throughout the two days. These summaries should not be construed as reflecting a consensus of the project panel, the conference participants, TRB, or the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The program agenda for the Insight Event is provided in Appendix B.
Presentations from “On-Demand Aviation Services for Mobility, Logistics, Emergency Response, and Humanitarian Use Cases” are available on the ACRP Insight Event web page at https://www.trb.org/ACRP/ACRPInsightEventOnDemandAviation.aspx. Readers who are interested in more information may e-mail the ACRP senior program officer for the event, Matthew J. Griffin, at mjgriffin@nas.edu.
