Conference Papers 2022

Seminar
Day 3 (9 Sep 2022), Session 9, CASE STUDIES - INFRASTRUCTURE, 11:30 - 13:00

Status
Accepted, awaiting documents

Submitted by / Abstract owner
Claudia Carrà

Authors
Claudio Cuccorese, Claudia Carrà, Francesca Romano - SEA Milan Airports
Pierluigi Coppola - Politecnico di Milano

Short abstract
This paper presents a study carried out to explore the opportunities and the feasibility of advanced air mobility services for passengers (i.e. air-taxi services) in the metropolitan area of Milan and in the Lombardy Region.

Abstract
The latest technological advances of manufacturers of innovative electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircrafts have already convinced national aviation agencies and airport infrastructure managers of the technical feasibility of short-range and low-altitude urban air mobility (UAM) transport solutions with low noise and low environmental impact enabled by innovative and safe technology (Porsche, 2018) (Vertical, 2021). They are expected to be operative in European cities in 3-4 years (EASA, 2021).
This paper presents a study carried out by SEA (i.e. the infrastructure manager of the main airport hubs of the Lombardy Region) with the scientific collaboration of Politecnico di Milano, to explore the opportunities and the feasibility of air-taxi services in the metropolitan area of Milan and in the Lombardy Region. The potential demand targeted in the study concerns both travelers moving to/from the airports of Milan-Malpensa (MXP) and Milan-Linate (LIN), and business and leisure travelers between origin-destination (OD) pairs in the Region.
The study consists of three main phases. The first one aims at identifying the optimal location of the vertiports i.e. the infrastructure that will allow landing and vertical taking off of the aircrafts. A multi-criteria analysis has been carried out at a regional (macro) scale including network indicators (e.g. highly crowded nodes of the public transport network such as railway and underground stations, buses, interchange parking lots; main nodes of the highway network; currently existing heliports; centrality and accessibility measures) and territorial indicators (e.g. areas with a high density of workers and population, areas subject to urban transformation and/or redevelopment, potential high-end tourist destination). The macro-scale analysis is followed by a more detailed (micro) analysis to identify the exact vertiports location, depending on land availability and land uses in relation to the size of the vertiports, the environmental constraints and restrictions for vertical take-off and landing.
The second phase of the study consists of a Revealed Preference/Stated Preference (RP/SP) survey exploring travelers’ preferences, attitudes towards urban low-altitude flying, and to estimate models for travel demand forecasting. About 4’000 RP interviews and 2’000 SP interviews were carried out in approximately two months of investigation. These have allowed the estimation of advanced discrete choice models forecasting, the probability of using UAM services offered by eVTOL aircrafts in competition with other modes of transport, taking into account level of service attributes (i.e. times, costs and other services), trip related variables (e.g. travel purpose, travelers alone or in party, travel expenses refunded or not, …) and other socio economic factors (e.g. income, age, ...). Finally, the third phase focuses on the application to the case study, aiming at forecasting the demand for UAM services in the Lombardy Region for the business case.
The study shows that over 15 areas of potential location of the vertiports can be identified in the Lombardy Region: up to 10 for the metropolitan area of Milan and the others serving the rest of the Region in addition to the two vertiport hubs in the airports of MXP and LIN. The survey highlighted high propensity of people to consider eVTOL services as a modal alternative for their travel. Passengers’ main concerns relate to aircraft safety, especially in adverse weather conditions or at night. The willingness to pay for a UAM service is much higher than for taxi or chauffeur service. The models allow to estimate the demand elasticity with respect to travel time and costs for different market segments, and to compare traffic flows forecast on air mobility services with other sources (ENAC, 2021).

References
EASA, 2021 – Study on the societal acceptance of Urban Air Mobility in Europe. European Union Aviation Safety Agency.
ENAC, 2021 – National Strategic Plan for the development of Advanced Air Mobility (2021-2030). Ente Nazionale per l’Aviazione Civile.
Porsche Consulting, 2018 – The Future of Vertical Mobility. Sizing the market for passenger, inspection, and goods services until 2035. A Porsche Consulting study.
Vertical, 2021 – The Future of Advanced Aerial Mobility. Whitepaper. Vertical Aerospace.

Programme committee
Aviation

Topic
The future of aviation: compatibility of recovery and sustainability