Project Summary

This project explores the feasibility of deploying electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOLs) on suitable routes, identifying socio-economic benefits and practical solutions to adoption barriers. The project will also evaluate the potential of GKN’s Skybus concept, involving bus-sized eVTOLs operating alongside air taxis, in a multi-modal transport system for the UK.

Project Achievements

GKN Aerospace collaborated with the Department for Transport, Connected Places Catapult, Frazer-Nash Consultancy, Pascall+Watson and urban-Air Port to carry out operational analyses on airport shuttle routes in the UK using Manchester airport as a use case. Time savings of up to 50 minutes compared to driving for trips from around Manchester and surrounding areas such as Preston, Blackburn and Huddersfield to Manchester Airport were demonstrated at £30 Skybus ticket prices.

Conclusions

The project concluded that significant opportunities existed for reduced travel times on airport shuttle routes in the UK through the introduction of large eVTOL based AAM services. These services would benefit thousands of passengers at each major airport annually through a new sustainable and scalable transport system.

Next Steps

Air taxis and Skybus could share the skies in the future, providing significant socioeconomic benefits to the UK through time savings, improved connectivity and reduced congestion on surface transport modes. Collaboration between technology developers, transport authorities, airport operators, local councils and airlines is recommended to overcome operational and infrastructure barriers to initial AAM operations in the UK.