Bristow Group director AAM outlines differences in operating costs between eVTOL, helicopters

Bristow Group director AAM Simon Meakin, speaking at the CAPA Airline Leader Summit - Airlines in Transition, commented (24-Apr-2026) on the specific use case for eVTOL and advanced air mobility (AAM) aircraft, stating: "We have a portfolio of different types of AAM aircraft, from conventional take-off and landing, short take-off and landing and vertical take-off and landing. It's about matching the use case and the capability together - it's about working adjacent to our current markets". Mr Meakin added: "We're not looking to replace our helicopters with these aircraft yet, there's a lot of capability that needs to build to that". Mr Meakins also commented on the operating cost of new types of aircraft, stating: "Where we see a really significant difference between an eVTOL and a traditional helicopter is at the component and simplicity level. There's a lot less components in these aircraft with distributed electrical propulsion. We don't have turbines, we don't have gear boxes... We expect a significant reduction in the engineering activity that needs to be carried out to keep these aircraft in the air". [more - CAPA TV]