Airport planners are coming under increasing pressure to onboard the infrastructure needed to enable planned eVTOL operations beginning in 2025.
With the leading eVTOL manufacturers like Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation planning to launch airport air-taxi services as soon as 2025, the challenge facing airport operators to onboard the necessary infrastructure to accommodate electric aircraft is becoming more real by the day.
“These aerial vehicles are already on the horizon but there is still a lot of uncertainty on the future level of activity… It’s kind of the nightmare of the planner,” says Gaël Le Bris, an assistant vice president at engineering firm WSP, which has been advising aviation clients and institutions about how best to prepare for the coming electric aircraft, particularly eVTOLs. “Every airport executive I meet today wants to talk about innovation, and the first question they ask is, ‘What should we do about electric and hydrogen aviation?’”
WSP has been commissioned by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to develop two guidance documents for airport practitioners regarding electric aircraft and hydrogen technologies as well as advanced air mobility, the first of which was published earlier this year, and the second of which should be released in January.
“We provide a holistic approach from early planning to operations regarding advanced air mobility at airports,” Le Bris says of the reports. “We provide tools for utility planning purpose as well; How many megawatts you need to install into the airport to address not only the electric aircraft needs, but also electric vehicles on the ground, heating systems in the airport, etc. in the context of the ‘Electrification of Everything’.”
Among WSP’s conclusions: By year 2035, battery-electric aircraft might account for one to five percent of the overall U.S. fleet of aircraft. “However, all aviation facilities will not experience the same electric aviation demand” Le Bris observes, attributing the expected disparity among airports to divergent operator preferences, regional variations, as well as opportunities for accommodating additional traffic at smaller airports with underutilized capacity.
As an example, he cites Cape Air, the Hyannis, Massachusetts-based operator of small aircraft that in April agreed to purchase up to 75 of Eviation’s nine-seat electric Alice aircraft. “The way they operate and their mission requirements are perfect for electric aviation–and they could probably shift their fleet to electric within a decade like they are currently doing with the Tecnam P2012.”
“For their focus airports like Boston Logan, for example, this means more intensive electric aircraft operations that need to be supported with the adequate infrastructure,” Le Bris adds. “Now, the adoption rate of electric aviation will vary based on the local market for each use case as well as policies adopted by states and communities.”
WSP is currently spearheading the master plan for the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, which includes a proposed redevelopment of the existing Dallas CBD Vertiport to accommodate eVTOL aircraft. The facility’s existing heliport–one of the largest in the world and initially designed to accommodate the civilian version of the V-22 Osprey–has been proposed to be relocated to the top of the redeveloped convention center. “If AAM blooms in Greater Dallas and we want this vertiport to become a gateway for these air services, there is a case for a large facility with two FATO/TLOF areas and six eVTOL stands with quick access to the ground,” Le Bris says.
At Philadelphia International Airport, meanwhile, WSP has been assisting the airport management with adding provisions for a vertiport facility as part of the ongoing airport master plan update. This vertiport could be located on the rooftop of a new consolidated parking garage and car rental facility that would offer direct terminal access and make a “perfect” location for eVTOL operations.
“Because of the size and the shape of the rooftop, you’d have room for a scalable vertiport that can provide for different levels of demand,” Le Bris said. “It is also important to provide approach and departure paths that are independent as far as practicable from conventional aircraft operations.”
Looking ahead, Le Bris advises that airports and planners focus on building out infrastructure that could not only enable electric aviation, but equally critically, integrate it with existing ride-sharing offerings and connect it to the larger mass transportation grid.
“It’s great to have electric aircraft flights, but what if we could leverage advanced air mobility and integrate it with other modes to increase accessibility to aerial mobility for the public?” Le Bris says. “How can we push a little bit further and really have a great mobility service from your doorstep to the final destination? When we think of AAM, those are among the key questions we are asking.”
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