Foreword, World Economic Forum White Paper: Advanced Air Mobility: Shaping the Future of Aviation, July 2024
We stand at the beginning of a transformative era in aviation, driven by new possibilities brought by groundbreaking technologies and a critical need for sustainability. To support this transformation, the World Economic Forum has launched the AVIATE: Advanced Air Mobility initiative. Central to AVIATE is a commitment to the safe, sustainable and equitable integration of advanced air mobility and autonomous aviation technologies into the global airspace. It focuses on the nascent sub-sector of advanced air mobility (AAM), given that this will be the first one to adopt the new technological advancements in the sky, from automation to electric propulsion systems, and from advanced materials to next-gen communication systems.
The reasons to help enable the nascent sector of AAM are manifold. First, the societal relevance of AAM in a wide variety of sectors: from the delivery of logistics to difficult-to-reach locations, to speedy response in healthcare emergencies, from the fight against wildfires to precision agriculture. Second, the safety benefits: air travel is already the safest mode of transport, yet 80% of the existing aviation accidents are caused by human error. Autonomous technologies can help address this, as well as the increasing shortage of pilots in more and more geographies. And third, the economic implications of AAM: the potential value of AAM will be highly significant by 2030, involving an entire value chain and resulting in the creation of numerous new jobs.
This white paper marks the end of the first phase of the AVIATE: Advanced Air Mobility initiative. It outlines the main use cases of AAM and the key enablers needed to make them a reality. It also outlines different stages in the road towards more automation in aviation operations, given that increased levels of automation will be key in the roadmap for financially viable AAM operations. The paper also emphasizes the infrastructure needed to introduce AAM, which is often overlooked in favour of discussions around aircraft certification.
Finally, this paper identifies and elaborates on some use cases of AAM, from passenger transport to cargo delivery and medical services, underscoring how these applications could transform the approach to mobility and logistics. The insights presented are the product of extensive discussions with the AVIATE: Advanced Air Mobility community.
Throughout its various phases, AVIATE’s mission is to assist the private and public sectors in understanding the complexities of these technological advancements, to identify best practices that maximize their benefits and minimize unintended risks, and to facilitate the deployment of these technologies globally through the World Economic Forum’s network of independent Centres for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
To date, the initiative has engaged more than 30 entities in the broader aviation ecosystem, a strong multistakeholder community including constituents from the public sector, private sector, civil society and research institutions. This collaborative effort will keep evolving in subsequent phases, propelled by the collective aim of achieving a more sustainable and innovative aviation sector. Together, we can redefine the boundaries of what is achievable in the skies and beyond.
With: Javier González, Partner, Kearney; Global Co-Lead, Kearney Center for Advanced Mobility
Image: Getty Images for Unsplash
