FlyNow Aviation CEO Jurgen Greil writes that Michael Halaby from the Royal Aeronautical Society describes in an article published in Aerospace magazine some of the most challenging problems eVTOLs face to meet suggested requirements and his conclusions are all more than viable.

As an expert in the aviation industry for many decades he knows the pain points and issues the industry has been trying to tackle since the beginning of commercial flight. The applications for a first success does not mean that affordable and available air taxis are not also possible if certain requirements are fulfilled and assumptions based on existing constraints are altered.

The main purpose of eVTOL will be to substitute ground transportation systems, mostly cars. The cars, buses and trains powered electrically however, are also susceptible to getting stuck in traffic jams as their conventional counterparts since they are dependent on the same infrastructure.

In addition, it is important to note that producing electric alternate vehicles need the same number of resources (or even more) to produce them. In general ground infrastructure is not only very expensive to build and maintain, but also seals the ground with all the resulting problems and additional costs.

The automotive industry is the only form of mobility whose total ecosystem is making money and in comparison, existing sea, air and rail transport systems are not subsidised, which means that neither interest is paid nor is there any repayment.

It is important to understand that exclusive car brands, despite their high prices, usually earn no or less money compared to volume models, which cross-subsidise them within a group.

But this was not always the case. In the dawn of the automotive industry, cars were extremely expensive and only a chosen few were able to afford them and willing to risk their lives to drive them. Among others it was Ford with the Model T and Volkswagen with the Beetle who reduced production cost by industrialising so that the average person could afford them.

This also set the governments to invest in the construction of the necessary infrastructure since they had the support from the tax-paying population. FlyNow Aviation is clearly positioning itself in the volume segment of the aviation industry.