Somerset Chamber member Bristol Airport is supporting a pioneering project to research and investigate the feasibility of an electric air taxi service in the South West by acting as the project’s principal support airport.
The £2.5m project is a consortium led by Atkins which includes Vertical Aerospace, a Bristol-based electric aircraft manufacturer. The West of England Combined Authority has secured partial funding for the project via an industrial research grant from central Government.
The aim is to find innovative methods of achieving greener flight, finding new ways to travel, increasing mobility, improving connectivity and reducing congestion. 
Simon Earles, Sustainability and Corporate Affairs Director, Bristol Airport, said: “We have set the airport an ambitious target to be carbon net zero by 2050. Innovative new approaches to travel, like the air taxi service, are critical to making this a reality and also support the wider decarbonisation agenda in the South West, and we are proud to act as a test bed for this exciting project.”
While the feasibility studies and subsequent trials will be based in the South West, the project will also consider scalability and application in other cities.
The project is expected to take 18 months and will comprise an assessment of the demand for air taxi services in the South West; development of use cases for the technology; and an evaluation of the integration and impact on the wider transportation network, including the region’s airports, as well as the benefits to cities and residents.
It will establish viable markets and businesses cases for these services and seek to understand public perceptions and attitudes towards eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) aircraft. These activities aim to culminate in a series of full-system demonstrations in live airspace across the region.
James Richmond, Advanced Air Mobility Lead at Atkins, said: “As we look to the future of travel, it’s now more important than ever that we begin exploring more sustainable methods of transport within our increasingly populated cities.
“Bringing together the experience and expertise from across the consortium, we’re excited to begin developing a fully integrated system concept, using the latest digital innovations. This an important and tangible step towards making Advanced Air Mobility a reality, and by demonstrating that we can provide a case for air taxis, we could begin trialling these services as early as 2023.”
Atkins, in addition to managing the project, will provide whole-system enterprise architecture, develop safety cases and create processes for secure passenger identification management.
Vertical Aerospace will explore vehicle integration, using their eVTOL air taxi. Skyports, an infrastructure provider for the emerging Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) industry, will be responsible for design, development, operation and airport integration of the physical infrastructure to enable safe and efficient air taxi services.
Vic Terry, Head of Digital Systems at Vertical Aerospace, said: “At Vertical, our ultimate aim is to make air travel green and accessible to everyone. This is a great opportunity to bring the consortiums’ products and services together, showcasing that air taxis are not reserved for science fiction but achievable to benefit both our cities and economy in the UK and around the world.”
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