Saudi Arabia’s SALAAM.earth (Sky Alliance for Automated Air Mobility) and FlyNow Arabia Ltd., a Saudi company bringing pilotless electric aircraft for air taxi and automated cargo services to market, hosted a closed-door roundtable in Riyadh with key government and industry stakeholders to discuss the development of an operational testing site for next-generation air mobility systems in Saudi Arabia.
“The session was supported by the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources and the National Industrial Development Centre (NIDC), with participation from representatives of the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA), the Ministry of Interior (MOI), and the Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC),” according to a SALAAM.earth press release.
“The roundtable focused on enabling real-world testing, validation, and future deployment of automated air mobility technologies in the Kingdom, supporting Saudi Arabia’s ambition to become a global leader in AAM as part of Vision 2030. A key milestone of the initiative is the planned flight testing of eCopter, developed by FlyNow Aviation, a subsidiary of FlyNow Arabia Ltd., and which is positioned to become one of the first Saudi-built aircraft.”
FlyNow’s eCopter is an electric aircraft designed to reduce urban traffic congestion by enabling fast, point-to-point air mobility. It can fly up to 50 km at speeds of 130 km/h, carrying up to two passengers or 200 kg of cargo. While eCopter will be the first aircraft tested, the sandbox is designed as an open platform that will support testing and integration of next-generation aircraft from other companies.
SALAAM.earth reports it brings together key partners across the AAM value chain, including FlyNow Arabia (eCopter platform), Skyroads (air traffic management), GeoTech (geospatial systems), Unified Aviation (vertiports), IAAM.Trust (digital identity layer), MAKONIS (AI & infrastructure integration), Quadron (cybersecurity), and GEM e-Aviation (operations and coordination). Together, these partners form the foundation of a fully integrated AAM ecosystem combining aircraft, infrastructure, and digital systems, says the company.
For more information
https://www.salaam.earth