To further the development of advanced air mobility, leading companies, universities and research institutions in Germany have come together under the leadership of Airbus to form the Air Mobility Initiative.
The Air Mobility Initiative will conduct a series of research projects that aim to make urban air mobility a reality within and between cities. The projects will focus on three main areas: electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, unmanned traffic management services, and airport and city integration, including vertiports.
Alongside Airbus, the members of the Air Mobility Initiative include the City of Ingolstadt, Deutsche Bahn, Deutsche Flugsicherung, Diehl Aerospace, Droniq, Munich Airport, Red Cross and Telekom. The initiative is also supported by the Free State of Bavaria and the Federal Republic of Germany.
Markus May, Head of Operations for urban air mobility at Airbus said:In many parts of the world, eVTOLs will offer a whole new mobility service in the near future. Airbus and the Air Mobility Initiative partners are aware that the introduction of such a system requires the cooperation of many players with different competences. Our goal is to build a transport service that benefits society and this is what we are setting up here in Bavaria.
The initiative aims to address the technological, infrastructural, legal and social requirements of implementing advanced air transport. Subsequently, the knowledge will enable an eVTOL demonstration project under real conditions in the region around Ingolstadt.
All unmanned traffic management activities will focus on the safe and efficient flight of vehicles on routes in and out of cities. Meanwhile, the vertiport activities will focus on take-off and landing sites for the aircraft, as well as their integration into airports and cities.
The initiative is funded with a total of 17 million EUR from the Free State of Bavaria and 24 million EUR from the federal government. Combined with the industry’s funds, a total budget of 86 million EUR is available over a period of three years.
