A UK consortium known as Skybus has completed a feasibility study for using a large-size electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft as a form of mass aerial transit that might operate like the organization’s name.
The Skybus study looks into the possibilities of flying a six-rotor, 30-person eVTOL craft as a mass-user urban air mobility (UAM) expansion of air taxi concepts. As such, the project has explored how those larger craft might operate alongside the smaller, usually three- to five-passenger vehicles being developed to offer on-demand inner-city air transport like air taxis. The main idea remains the same – lifting traffic now clogging the world’s roads into the skies with emissions-free alternatives – but with Skybus aiming to do so in something closer to mass transit capacities.
The Skybus consortium is led by UK Tier 1 UAM platform airframe supplier GKN Aerospace, in collaboration with Swanson Aviation Consultancy, Pascall+Watson,…
