Airbus Helicopters chief executive Bruno Even says he remains “convinced” of the potential for urban air mobility (UAM) vehicles despite backing away from the launch of a development programme due battery performance concerns.
Although Airbus had been working on its battery-powered CityAirbus NextGen demonstrator since 2021, in January it announced the project would be paused once flight-testing finishes later this year.
But briefing journalists on 3 March at the company’s German final assembly plant in Donauworth – the location of its CityAirbus test centre – Even said he still sees a market for UAM over the longer term.
“I’m still convinced that there’s a need for the development of UAM vehicles, bringing less noise, more safety and bringing less CO2 emissions.
“Still, and we have been clear from the beginning, that is not something we see short term.”
The aiframer’s goal was to fly the CityAirbus NextGen in 2024 – a milestone reached in November – and “to be ready to launch a new programme in 2026”.
Even, however, stresses that the “conditions to launch a programme are not there”.
In particular, “the performance of the batteries” – both now and “what is projected in the coming years” – will not “allow us to deliver the minimum level of performance and mission to allow us to launch a programme and start commercial operations”.
On that basis, Even insists it is “the right decision” to continue flight-test activities through 2025, “but at the same time to pause the programme and to wait for better conditions to launch a new product”.
Featuring a lift-and-cruise architecture with fixed rather than tilting rotors, the CityAirbus NextGen was designed for missions of around 45nm (80km). It was to cruise at 65kt (120km/h) and to carry four passengers and a pilot.
Defending the company from accusations of taking too conservative an approach to the aircraft’s design, he maintains the architecture of the CityAirbus NextGen “is not the issue” and that it “brings the right compromise between cruise and lift”.
Testing continues to demonstrate that the “CityAirbus is bringing the level of performance we were expecting from the architecture”, he adds. “I don’t think we are conservative by considering the conditions to launch a new programme are not there.”
Beyond the technical limitations of batteries, Even cites regulatory challenges and a business model that “still needs to mature” as further barriers to a programme launch.
Flights of the demonstrator are continuing on a “weekly basis”, says Stefan Thome, executive vice-president of programmes, as the company continues to work through the aircraft’s test points.
“It is still a very active programme this year,” Thome adds. “We are still very busy.” Plans for this year include conducting an endurance flight with a meaningful payload.
