Sustainable Regional Air Mobility in Germany

What is it about?

With advances in aircraft propulsion and battery technology, concepts for aircraft that can carry a small number of passengers over a few hundred kilometres with zero CO2 emissions are becoming increasingly feasible. The vision is for these aircraft to use small regional airfields close to the start and end points of the passenger's journey, with reduced processing times. The aim is to reduce travel time and create a new sustainable mode of travel, also known as Regional Air Mobility (RAM). This paper investigates on which routes in Germany travellers can actually achieve these Travel Time Benefits (TTB). It uses a detailed door-to-door travel time analysis based on a segmentation of Germany into more than 400 regions. A demand model is used to predict between which regions and airports demand for such a service can be expected.

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Photo by Alina Grubnyak on Unsplash

Photo by Alina Grubnyak on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This research will inform three main groups of people: aircraft designers, regional airlines and policy makers. Aircraft designers can refine trade studies through a better understanding of range requirements. Airlines can use this research as a starting point for their own analysis of how to build a network of sustainable domestic flights. Policy makers can understand where RAM can add the most value and strategically promote the introduction of such services.