Common global rules needed ahead of ‘flying taxi’ boom, UK regulator says
The head of the UK’s aviation regulator has called for the creation of a global common standard for flying taxis, as he forecast that air travel was on the brink of a “new revolution”. Sir Stephen Hillier, chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, said the travel industry is at an “inflection point” and needs global co-operation ahead of the “widespread” adoption of electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOLs) designed to carry passengers on short trips. His comments come after UK airspace struggled to cope with conventional passenger jets during a summer of delays compounded by the failure of the country’s air traffic control system over the August bank holiday, which grounded hundreds of aircraft and delayed thousands of passengers. The CAA has launched an investigation into the outage, which Hillier said would look at the “systemic issues” raised by the failure at the operator, National Air Traffic Services, the resilience of air traffic control and the modernisation of UK airspace. But he added that it was right to prepare to regulate new technologies, which will force the UK’s already dated airspace to adapt to new forms of air travel. “The lessons [of the Nats failure] . . . will help inform how we take forward aerospace modernisation,” he said. Investors around the world have committed billions of dollars to the dream of “urban air mobility” but it has taken longer than expected for flying taxis to become a reality, with companies struggling to overcome technical and operational challenges. The next 18 months will be critical for the industry as several start-ups accelerate their test programmes in the hope of receiving certification for their vehicles from as early as next year. Germany’s Volocopter wants to be the first to fly commercially in Europe as early as next summer, in time for the Paris Olympics. The UK government has set a target date of 2026 for having a craft licensed, but Hillier rejected concerns from some in the aviation industry that the UK is falling behind.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2023-09-26/general/common-global-rules-needed-ahead-of-2018flying-taxi2019-boom-uk-regulator-says
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Common global rules needed ahead of ‘flying taxi’ boom, UK regulator says
The head of the UK’s aviation regulator has called for the creation of a global common standard for flying taxis, as he forecast that air travel was on the brink of a “new revolution”. Sir Stephen Hillier, chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, said the travel industry is at an “inflection point” and needs global co-operation ahead of the “widespread” adoption of electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOLs) designed to carry passengers on short trips. His comments come after UK airspace struggled to cope with conventional passenger jets during a summer of delays compounded by the failure of the country’s air traffic control system over the August bank holiday, which grounded hundreds of aircraft and delayed thousands of passengers. The CAA has launched an investigation into the outage, which Hillier said would look at the “systemic issues” raised by the failure at the operator, National Air Traffic Services, the resilience of air traffic control and the modernisation of UK airspace. But he added that it was right to prepare to regulate new technologies, which will force the UK’s already dated airspace to adapt to new forms of air travel. “The lessons [of the Nats failure] . . . will help inform how we take forward aerospace modernisation,” he said. Investors around the world have committed billions of dollars to the dream of “urban air mobility” but it has taken longer than expected for flying taxis to become a reality, with companies struggling to overcome technical and operational challenges. The next 18 months will be critical for the industry as several start-ups accelerate their test programmes in the hope of receiving certification for their vehicles from as early as next year. Germany’s Volocopter wants to be the first to fly commercially in Europe as early as next summer, in time for the Paris Olympics. The UK government has set a target date of 2026 for having a craft licensed, but Hillier rejected concerns from some in the aviation industry that the UK is falling behind.<br/>
