![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() That’s partly because of technological hitches. To date, no company has been certified to pick up passengers in an air taxi or other eVTOL. Some experts see the first wave of aerial taxis providing a shuttle service between major airports and downtown vertiports that integrate into the mass transportation system, rather than leapfrogging from block to block or hovering from balcony to bar and back - a hub-to-hub travel option akin to a monorail, but smaller scale and more expensive. Dallas-based Jaunt Air Mobility intends to shift nearly the entire operation to the Montreal area, said Eric Cote, CEO of its Canadian operation. operators looking to tap into the country’s aeronautics clusters. The industry here remains “nascent,” Hammond said, but noted it has attracted U.S. No manufacturers with the venture-capital heft of the sector’s top players count Canada as home. “We’re now at the beginning of a valley and trough phase,” said JR Hammond, executive director of the Canadian Advanced Air Mobility Consortium. Money raised for eVTOL development amounted to US$2.5 billion in the first half of 2023, up 15 per cent from the first six months of 2022 - though far below 2021, when at least five manufacturers went public - according to an analysis from McKinsey & Company. Meanwhile Stellantis, Toyota and other car companies keen on electric models are partnering with air taxi makers on manufacturing. United Airlines and American Airlines are among the biggest would-be customers, ordering hundreds of the hovering haulers. In a six-month period last year, more than 80 companies placed orders for nearly 8,000 aircraft categorized as advanced air mobility - mainly air taxis - according to aviation data firm Cirium. They typically carry between one and five passengers with a battery life that can reach up to 250 kilometres.ĭespite a spending dip, the sector is abuzz with orders and investment. Drawing on lithium-ion batteries, they are cleaner, quieter and - eventually - cheaper to fly and maintain than a jet fuel-powered chopper.īut while a slew of eVTOLs have undergone limited testing, only a half-dozen or so companies have furnished air taxi models now taking part in advanced, regular flights tests, according to Chebil. Most eVTOLs resemble an oversized drone, sporting a halo of small rotors around a passenger pod - some sporting wings - and taking off and touching down like a helicopter. ![]()
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