Electric aircraft could enable new public transportation services connecting British cities and regions more efficiently, according to research commissioned by UK Research and Innovation’s Future Flight Challenge. The UK Advanced Air Mobility Market Assessment prepared by Swanson Aviation Consultancy’s EAMaven team focuses on 20 prospective routes, including 14 that would use eSTOL aircraft and six for which eVTOL vehicles would be deployed.
The study determined that the services would employ 224 aircraft, of which 160 would be four-passenger eVTOL aircraft, with the remainder being 19-seat eSTOL models. The authors, Darrell Swanson and Jarek Zych, calculated that on average each aircraft would generate 1,854 revenue flight hours per year, with the eVTOL vehicles having somewhat higher utilization rates.
The report’s conclusions include projected annual revenues from the 20 routes of £704 million ($810 million), equating to £3.1 million per aircraft. Based on UK Department for Transport data, EAMaven anticipates that the new air services would result in time savings of 11 person-years each week, which it says would equate to weekly productivity savings of £2.6 million. Another notable projection in the report is that 9,000 tonnes of carbon emissions would be saved by reducing the number of car journeys in the locations assessed.
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