Urban Air Mobility – Changing The Competitive Landscape Of Short Haul Regional Aviation As Barriers To Entry Are Lowered

Between 2000 and 2018, the populations of the world’s cities with 500,000 inhabitants or more grew at an average annual rate of 2.4 per cent. However, 36 of these cities grew more than twice as fast, with average growth in excess of 6% per year. Of these, 28 are located in Asia, with 17 in China alone.

Furthermore, two-thirds of the global population will live in cities by 2050 and the number of megacities is predicted to rise from 33 to 43 within the next decade – again, many of which are located in Asia.

With rising populations, comes a need for greater mobility solutions. 

As flying cars become the next step forward in innovation, Asia has become a testing ground for a number of urban air mobility vehicles, one of the latest examples being in Singapore where German company, Volocopter tests its next round of flight tests for its urban air mobility vehicle.  

In the session, delve into integrating traditional aviation with the disruptors and the potential challenges and impacts this presents to the industry, now and in the future.

• Is urban mobility an opportunity for airlines or a threat?
• Are airlines likely to be the first to adopt this new technology?
• What is the likely competitive impact for airlines that operate short-haul and regional routes, especially for the corporate travel market?
• What is the predicted impact of the lowered barriers to entry across the market?
• How can disruptors and established airline players complement each other and provide sustainable, integrated and optimised air travel solutions?