We’ve all seen the sleek branding, the artists impressions of eVTOL aircraft and vertiports, the glossy CGI models, even footage of test flights – all of which are inspiring, but none of which quite hit home like rows of numbers in a table that show how advanced air mobility (‘AAM’) would look in your own life, in your own commute, and on the bottom line of your business.

The UK Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Market Assessment was released last week, prepared by Swanson Aviation Consultancy and EAMaven for UK Research and Innovation, who were ‘engaged to undertake an assessment of potential routes across the UK with the aim of identifying the potential for electric aviation aircraft’. This report identifies a range of key estimated numbers that will help to quantify the improvements AAM could realistically make to revenue generation, economic stimulation, time savings, carbon emissions savings, and increases in productivity, across this group of potential routes. The estimated value of the time lost making the same journeys by road and rail is fascinating, but the really high-impact numbers are those itemising the carbon emissions savings, set out at section 4.

This initial Assessment is of course limited in scope to one group of routes in one jurisdiction, but it makes a valuable contribution to the bigger picture, and we would anticipate will be especially helpful for those looking to invest in AAM vehicles and its supporting infrastructure. The team has flagged that more findings will be made available towards the end of this month, so stay tuned for the next episode…