Asia-Pacific AAM Report 1H 2023

PUBLISHER’S NOTE
A significant change has
taken place in the aerospace
industry over the course of
the past 12 months. Almost
every single major airshow
and conference across the
world has included eVTOL
manufacturers in their lineup
of exhibitors and speakers.
Alongside this, traditional aerospace OEMs are banging the drum
about their role in the growing sector by displaying their wares
in the ecosystem, be it air traffic management control systems,
airframes or electric propulsion systems.
One of the most anticipated worldwide events, will of course be the
World Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan. This is expected to be a major
milestone for the AAM industry with many players racing to be the
first to reach full commercialization in Japan. This is not limited
to Japanese companies, as EHang, Wisk and Skyports have all
stepped up to be included. This issue of the AAM report includes
a feature about the Osaka World Expo which explains what the
excitement is all about.
For our Asia-Pacific coverage of the eVTOL manufacturers, we
set some parameters and criteria for the selection process. We
set the cut-off date for our data at March 31, 2023 and included
those OEMs with their headquarters in Asia-Pacific and that
are actively engaged in the development of passenger eVTOLs
or hydrogen VTOLs. In addition, these OEMs must already have
built a demonstrator or prototype that was at least 1/4 scale in
size as of the data cutoff date. Since our last edition, one notable
new entrant is Neo Aeronautics from Singapore now has a full
scale multicopter prototype which is primarily being tested in the
United States.
As with our previous reports, we look at the background of each
OEM and the aircraft they are developing at their various stages of
prototyping, detailed design and testing. We cover the certification
progress for the aircraft, funding for the company, orders that have
been placed or order intentions that have been agreed, and the
significant partnerships they have established. All of these factors
being important to determining their ability to deliver models into
production and commercial use within the next few years.
With Global Sky Media’s ‘global coverage’ we decided to also
investigate some of the up-and-coming eVTOL OEMs from Europe
and MENA. Everyone knows about Airbus, Lilium and Volocopter,
but have you heard of emerging players like eMagic from Germany
or UMILES from Spain? We share their backgrounds, aircraft models
and major milestones. You can find the data later in the report.
We have included a number of feature articles in this edition. For the
first one, we decided to take a look at an area much considered for
public acceptance which is the psychology of human beings when it
comes to their perception of new modes of transport and in our case,
first piloted eVTOLs and then autonomous ones. We interviewed
Prof. Dr. Patrick Planing, Business Psychologist at Stuttgart
University of Applied Sciences who explains the many different
facets, technical and psychological, that need to be addressed in
order to change peoples' perceptions and instill the confidence to fly.
You can ask yourself the question of whether or not you would stand
in line to be on one the first commercial flights coming soon to a
Vertiport near you.
We already know that trained pilots are in shortage around the world
for traditional rotorcraft, but what is happening to prepare for the
explosion of eVTOLs that will emerge during the next decade for
urban and regional mobility in missions ranging from search and
rescue, emergency medical services, cargo and passenger transport?
The development of training centers and the cost of training each
SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR CONTRIBUTORS
2 | 1H 2023 ASIA-PACIFIC AAM REPORT