Around the world – and especially in China, the Middle East and the USA – airports, cities and regions are busy developing advanced air mobility (AAM) plans for the introduction of the first generation of passenger-carrying eVTOL flights in 2025 and 2026. In Europe, however, the number of airport/city/region-based AAM programmes has fallen dramatically over the past six months, from 95 city/region-based ecosystem programmes in October 2024 to 74 in April 2025, with 26 of these based in the UK, according to Europe AAM/UAM Routes and Programmes Guide which reports on infrastructure plans in 28 European states
“It is not difficult to explain this fall,” said report author Philip Butterworth-Hayes. “The demise of Lilium, cut-backs at Volocopter following its take-over by China’s Wanfeng Auto Holding Group, Airbus’ decision to pause its CityAirbus NextGen eVTOL programme, the failure of the 2024 Paris Olympics to ignite commercial eVTOL operations in France and a lack of state funding for eVTOL, infrastructure and regulators have all played their part in seeing the number of AAM programmes fall in Europe while elsewhere in the world they are accelerating.”
While other regions of the world have also experienced set-backs they have proved far more resilient than Europe in recovering, according to this latest research. Lilium’s demise put at risk up to 15 city-based AAM ecosystem development plans in Florida but since the announcement of Lilium’s market exit, Florida state and industry have added 24 new vertiport projects in this single state alone. Europe simply does not have that level of resilience.
These failures have also changed the balance of power among pioneering European AAM states. Until early 2025, Germany and France were the most active states in this area, with 11 cities/regions in France planning for AAM passenger carrying operations and 21 in Germany. Since the start of the year these numbers have fallen to six in France and nine in Germany.
Now the baton has been passed to the UK, where multiple airport-based AAM programmes are in the early stages of planning and eVTOL flight tests are underway. A raft of regulations covering vertiports, platforms and UTM systems have been published and two airport-based vertiport take-off and landing sites, equipped with appropriate navigational aids, have been built (in Snowdonia and Bicester) to trial eVTOL operations.
Italy, Spain, Denmark and Turkey are also continuing their momentum in pursuing infrastructure development plans ahead of eVTOL certification. Serbia and Poland have been added to the European AAM/UAM Routes and Programmes analysis since October 2024. Serbia plans to begin operating eVTOLs by 2027, President Aleksandar Vucic said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2025, and President Vucic said discussions were already underway with Archer Aviation
Meanwhile, in December 2024 a Letter of Intent (LOI) was signed among key aviation stakeholders to participate in an international test arena for zero- and low-emission aviation in Norway. The agreement involves the Civil Aviation Authority of Norway, Avinor AS, BETA Technologies, and Bristow Norway AS to build a Concept of Operations for demonstrating cargo transport, with the aim of carrying out demo operations in a ‘regulatory sandbox’ in Norway by late summer or early autumn 2025.
| Accurate and detailed AAM infrastructure intelligence
The Europe AAM/UAM Routes and Programmes Guide is part of the Global AAM/UAM Market Map portfolio of advanced air mobility infrastructure market reports which also includes The Global Vertiport Market Map and Forecast 2025-2029, The Worldwide AAM/UAM Routes and Programmes report and The AAM Regulations, Standards, CONOPS and Roadmaps for Passenger-Carrying Operations report. Together, these reports give investors, industry, infrastructure planners, regulators, advisers and other AAM stakeholder groups a unique, accurate and detailed overview of the work planned and undertaken around the world to develop infrastructure for advanced air mobility services. |
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