The Flying Forklift
There’s plenty more competition in the eVTOL industry. An Orlando-based company called LuftCar is developing a prototype for a hydrogen-powered air/road vehicle that it’s nicknamed the “flying forklift” — picture a small airframe that can be attached to a van. You could detach the van from the airframe and drive it, or dock the airframe to the van and fly it.
LuftCar intends to make autonomous vehicles and is partnering with autonomy companies, says its founder and CEO, Santh Sathya, who previously developed experimental hydrogen-powered cars for the Ford Motor Co. “I’m convinced that Florida has a perfect ecosystem” for the LuftCar’s development, he says. “We made a decision to be in Florida.”
Other major eVTOL manufacturers not headquartered in Florida include Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation (in California), eHang (in China), Skyfly and Vertical Aerospace (in England) and Wisk (owned by Boeing). With no significant revenue yet, they’re all being funded by investors. And it’s worth noting that some eVTOL startups have already flamed out and gone out of business — like Kitty Hawk, which was backed by Google cofounder Larry Page. It likely won’t be the last to fizzle.
The Dealership
There’s even an eVTOL dealership in Florida that’s working on opening a showroom. A company called Aeroauto, based in Palm Beach County, says it has taken about 100 advance orders for eVTOLs. That includes electric ultralight aircraft — small, one-seater eVTOLs that won’t require a pilot’s license or FAA certification. You’re not allowed to fly them over populated areas, but you can fly them over water, farms, forests or ranches. The top speed allowed is 63 mph. They’re not publicly available just yet, but some manufacturers are talking about delivering the first electric ultralights to customers later this year. Aeroauto is taking advance orders for an ultralight called the Land Rotor Sportster. Land Rotor, an Orlando company seeking investors, is targeting the price for its Sportster at $70,000.
“We came up with the idea of a high-end car dealership with a different kind of car, where we teach you how to fly,” says Aeroauto CEO Sean Borman. Among other services, they educate customers about what’s real and what’s not. “So much of the industry is computer graphics and dreams,” Borman says. “None of these companies can do anything until they get their vehicles certified. The FAA is the big holdup for the entire industry.”
Making the Rules
It’s not every day that the government has to deal with a whole new mode of transportation. All of these eVTOL manufacturers are tinkering with their prototypes and are working toward getting their aircraft certified for public use by the FAA, meaning that the aircraft meets federal safety standards and that manufacturing can begin.
On its web page about air taxis, the FAA has this to say: “These aviation dreams will only happen if people are confident it is safe, just like flying in the United States today. That’s the FAA’s job: Making sure this new generation of air taxis maintains the high level of safety that defines modern aviation.” The FAA also notes that eVTOLs could be useful for firefighting and search-and-rescue missions.
The vehicles — which could be autonomous in the future — are part of a classification that governments and airports call Advanced Aerial Mobility, or AAM. And the government is in the early stages of figuring out what the rules of the road for AAM are ultimately going to look like.
“Advanced Aerial Mobility (AAM) is confronted with significant barriers that must be addressed to realize its potential. One of the foremost hurdles is regulatory,” aviation lawyer and University of Central Florida law professor Timothy Ravich and two UCF researchers wrote in a 2023 report for the National Science Foundation. “The existing aviation regulatory frameworks are ill-equipped to accommodate the unique demands of AAM, especially concerning low-altitude flights, autonomous aircraft, and unmanned traffic management. Regulatory bodies like the Federal Aviation Administration and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency need to devise comprehensive regulations encompassing safety, noise, privacy, and certification of new aircraft and technologies.”
Translation: There’s a lot of work to do on this. Both the FAA and the state of Florida have assembled large working groups of dozens of government staffers and eVTOL industry representatives to begin sorting through these issues.
Last year the FAA released a blueprint for airspace changes to accommodate future air taxis. It calls for eVTOLs to begin flying much as helicopters do today, using existing routes and infrastructure like helipads and early vertiports. Pilots are to communicate with air traffic controllers where required.
As for Florida, in September it published an initial plan for how the state will strategically integrate eVTOLs into its existing transportation network — a plan that involves plenty of public outreach before these things are actually flying overhead. In October, a Florida House transportation subcommittee held the state Legislature’s first hearing on eVTOLs.
Florida is also urging the federal government to move faster on eVTOLs. In October, FDOT Secretary Jared Perdue sent a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg that said, “Unfortunately, Florida faces one roadblock to begin putting our plans into motion: the continued delay of your Federal Aviation Administration.” He asserted that France is outpacing the U.S. when it comes to this emerging technology.
Lopano, the Tampa airport CEO, believes the FAA has no choice but to engage and move forward, given the reality of the situation: “Like anything else, the technology will push the regulation. Technology doesn’t wait for anyone.”
Other Aviation Trends
Airport Improvement
Florida’s 19 commercial service airports had a record 96 million-plus passengers in 2023, says the state Department of Transportation. Of the 19 airports, 15 are carrying out construction to add capacity to terminals and runways to handle even more travelers. The state transportation department says it’s “actively working with our aviation partners to ensure their aviation infrastructure keeps pace with the continued and growing demand.” The department’s five-year work program calls for investing $1.3 billion in Florida aviation.
To that expansion goal: The Federal Aviation Administration in February announced $112.5 million in terminal construction grants for Florida airports, part of nearly $1 billion awarded to 114 airports nationally. Recipients of this latest round of funding included:
Flight Check
Commercial airlines last year posted the highest number of Florida flights since the pre-pandemic year of 2019, according to data from FlightAware. The state averages just over 2,100 flights a day. The good news is that the percentage of cancellations fell back to around 1% after cancellations nearly tripled in the pandemic. The bad news: In 2023 approximately a quarter of all flights were delayed by at least 15 minutes, which is the FAA definition of delayed. — Mike Vogel