It is tempting to look at the potential of urban air mobility, with its vision of skyscraper vertiports in our city centers and new, shiny multimodal transportation hubs, and think this new transportation mode will require billions of dollars to be spent on new infrastructure. While building new aviation infrastructure in congested city centers is a needed and worthwhile investment in the future, today’s existing general aviation airport infrastructure can–and should–be capitalized. General Aviation airport infrastructure and flight procedures can and do provide UAM users and operators a safe, efficient, economical, and quiet solution to access the national airspace that exists today.

General Aviation Airports throughout the U.S. as shown on Google Maps

While less than 30% of the population lives within 30 minutes of a major hub airport, more than 90% lives within 30 minutes of a small community airport. This illustrates the practicality of using UAM to support user demand between community airports in addition to hub airports, allowing improved access to commerce, commercial airline travel, and urban centers.

In the San Francisco Bay area, for example, over a dozen airports other than San Francisco and Oakland International Airports (SFO and OAK, respectively) could be used to expedite travel by decreasing travel times from hours to minutes using facilities that already safely support small aircraft on a regular basis. In the Los Angeles area, airports such as Santa Monica Airport (SMO) are perfectly positioned to support urban air mobility. Within the New York metropolitan area alone, an existing network of heliports, general aviation facilities, and smaller commercial airports provide connections to major international hubs such as Newark Liberty International (EWR) and JFK. Forward thinking major commercial hub airports are already assessing how to incorporate UAM into their operations, which could allow local flights to and from nearby suburban airports. Helicopter services, such as CAMI member Blade, even now are using these GA airports for helicopter operations while evaluating the use of other electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

Although UAM was initially focused on providing relief to congested urban centers, it will also support economic development in communities and regional airports beyond these large metropolitan areas. GA airports in these regional centers will provide economical locales for UAM aircraft maintenance, training, and manufacturing, as well as air taxi operations. As a result, some regional airport authorities, such as Sebring Airport Authority, another CAMI Member, continue to implement infrastructure and operational improvements at Sebring Regional Airport (SEF) to support UAM operations and other related technologies.

SEF is collocated with the Sebring Multimodal and Logistics Center and Sebring Commerce Park. The facility includes an onsite CSX rail spur and foreign trade zone (FTZ 215), and it is home to a variety of aviation and non-aviation tenants, including the Sebring International Raceway. Further, SEF is located within 150 miles of several Florida metropolitan areas and 86% of the state’s total population. SEF because of its location, infrastructure, airspace, and current UAS activity illustrates that smaller regional airports could and should support UAM and other transportation technology.

While some general aviation airports, such as Teterboro Airport (TEB) in New Jersey or Hanscom Field (BED) outside Boston, MA, support substantial corporate, public use, and personal aircraft operations, most GA airports have the capacity to support additional aircraft activities. (Even these busy airports could accommodate UAM due to the unique takeoff and landing profile of these aircraft.) So, why aren’t more travelers using small planes and GA airports today? Historically, barriers to the more widespread use of general aviation included weather sensitivity, expense, mobility at destination, and doorstep to destination travel time. Today, one would add a greater appreciation of aviation’s environmental impact (both noise and emissions), perception of safety, and the difficulty of finding and training pilots to the list.

However, today’s emerging electric aircraft–both conventional and vertical takeoff and landing–address most of these concerns. With zero in situ emissions and noise levels that are orders of magnitude quieter than conventional aircraft, these aircraft can support more flight operations with less impact compared to traditional operations. In other words, electric aircraft are better neighbors. These aircraft also provide lower operating costs and simpler pilot training resulting in ticket prices that are competitive with current per mile costs of other forms of popular transportation.

Successfully integrating flight into our existing transportation landscapes, including interfacing smoothly with commercial airline travel, ride hailing, and public transit, like bus routes and subways, is one of CAMI’s missions. The “good neighbor” nature of eVTOL aircraft promotes urban vertiport access very near riders’ desired destination while offering opportunities to pair vertiports with local community airports. This collaboration will allow passengers to utilize both their local airports and urban air mobility to access commercial hub airports or urban centers in less time, and ultimately for less cost and with less environmental impact, than traditional commuting.

Unfortunately, many GA airports today are being pressured by some community members to reduce operations or close completely as a result of environmental, safety, and cost misconceptions. This is in many ways understandable given historically available aircraft technology and the lack of flight integration into most people’s daily transportation needs. However, with super commuting on the rise, either due to lack of housing (housing prices near urban centers increasing) or jobs, and extreme road congestion costing hundreds of billions of dollars annually, urban air mobility is poised to offer some solutions. Further, the use of existing aviation facilities provided by local airports could accelerate UAM integration.

GA airports and urban air mobility are a natural fit. Local airports provide a proven safe, efficient and regulated operational environment for UAM to develop and grow, while UAM will promote the economic, environmental, and social benefits of the airport to its community. The expansion of clean technology and transportation continues to support airport sponsors’ efforts to provide ever-increasing value to their communities while becoming ever-better neighbors.

If you are interested in talking with the Community Air Mobility Initiative about how the local airport near you can be part of the UAM revolution, please let us know!

This blog post was a collaboration between Tricia Fantinato and Anna Dietrich.

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Local Gems: Community Airports and Urban Air Mobility