Air Mobility Initiative lays the foundations for electric air transport of the future

To advance the development of regional and Urban Air Mobility, leading companies, universities, and research institutions as well as municipalities and organizations are joining forces to form the Air Mobility Initiative (AMI). The members of the Air Mobility Initiative include Munich Airport International, Airbus, City of Ingolstadt, Deutsche Bahn, Deutsche Flugsicherung, Diehl Aerospace, Droniq, Red Cross and Telekom. This initiative, which is funded by the Free State of Bavaria and the Federal Republic of Germany, will set up a series of research projects aimed at making electric air mobility within and between cities a reality. The joint projects are centered around three main areas:  electric aircraft, air traffic management services, and vertiports, meaning the necessary infrastructure on the ground.

"A few years ago, Air Mobility was just a vision. Today, with AMI, we are taking a big step towards realization. We at Munich Airport International see enormous potential in this new form of mobility. The AMI partnership enables us to jointly develop and implement scalable and sustainable Air Mobility concepts for the public," says Dr. Ralf Gaffal, Chief Executive Officer Munich Airport International. 

"We will examine the various elements of such an air transport system in realistic projects to gain an accurate picture of the technical and regulatory requirements" said Andreas Thellmann, Head of Air Mobility Initiative. "Electric air transport can enhance public transport, airports and time critical mobility services, it will be environmentally friendly, quiet and safe."

In a first step, the AMI partners will address the technological, infrastructural, legal, and social prerequisites for the future implementation of advanced air transport. Subsequently, the knowledge gained will be carried through a demonstration project under real conditions with electrically powered vertical take-off aircraft.

Work on the individual AMI projects began in January 2022. The test flights of the pilot project will be carried out in the region around Ingolstadt. The initiative is funded with a total of €17 million from the Free State of Bavaria and €24 million from the Federal Government. Together with the industry's own funds, this results in a total activity of € 86 million over a period of three years. Airbus is responsible for the electrically powered aircraft together with Diehl Aerospace, University Stuttgart and other partners. Components and systems for the CityAirbus NextGen are to be developed in this workstream. The area of "Unmanned Traffic Management" deals with the safe and efficient flight of vehicles on their routes in- and outside cities. This topic is being advanced together with Droniq, Airbus, f.u.n.k.e. Avionics, SkyFive, BrigkAir, DFS, Telekom, Universities from Munich and Hamburg as well as other partners. In the "Vertiport" project innovative and sustainable solutions will be developed for the planning, permitting, implementation and operation of ground infrastructure for electrical vertical take-off and landing vehicles (eVTOLs).

In order to integrate vertiports into airports many prerequisites like environmental impact, intermodality, slot neutrality, regulatory requirements, approval of flight procedures and ground infrastructure as well as digital solutions for a seamless travel chain have to be taken into account. Under the leadership of Munich Airport International, a team consisting of interdisciplinary experts from Bauhaus Luftfahrt, Nuremberg Airport, universities of Ingolstadt, Eichstätt and Munich as well as other academic and industry partners will work closely together on this.