Review Article

Operational Considerations regarding On-Demand Air Mobility: A Literature Review and Research Challenges

Table 1

An overview of the ODAM demand estimation.

Ref.RegionTime frameScaleData typeData avail.Short summary

[18]Munich, Germany (248 respondents)Feb.–Apr. 2018 (survey time)UStated preference surveyNoTravel time, travel cost, and safety are the most critical determinants for the adoption of autonomous transportation modes. Moreover, higher value of time and higher income also favor the use of urban air mobility.
[19]European citiesFutureUScenario assumptionNoFor a typical European city, a substitution rate of 10% of car traffic by a personal air vehicle is used, assuming that daily car traffic is approximately 300,000. Several requirements are not easy to be met, and a broad range of uncertainty remains.
[20]New York, U. S.FutureUNew York City taxi recordsNoCertain locations including large facilities and smaller stops for New York City are suggested. The percentage of time savings and willingness to fly did not impact the location decision significantly, while the on-road travel limit does.
[21]Northern California and Washington-Baltimore Region, U. S.FutureUNational household travel survey, LODES, ACS, and StreetLight dataNoThe demand is very sensitive to the pricing structure, and the costs have to be kept between $1 per passenger mile and $1.25 per passenger mile to achieve a potential market share of 0.5–4%, where a 4% market share represents 320,000 trips per day.
[22]U. S. (2500 workers in 5 cities: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, San Francisco, and Los AngelesApr.–Jun. 2018 (survey time)UStated preference surveyNoNo results from the survey were provided.
[23]U. S. (four focus groups)May 2017 (survey time)UStated preference surveyNoOnly survey for one focus group (6 participants) was conducted with some descriptive feedbacks. Results from two online platforms (Amazon Mechanical Turk and Qualtrics) were compared, and Qualtrics is recommended to use in the future.
[24]U. S. (1405 workers in 5 cities: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, San Francisco, and Los AngelesMar.–May 2019 (survey time)UStated preference surveyNoThe survey settings are very similar to [22]. No results from the survey were provided.
[25]Germany2030R50 OD pairs’ samples in GermanyNoWith the ODAM door-to-door travel speeds of 80–200 km/h, a willingness-to-pay value of 0.5–0.8€/km (monetary value in 2015) for the year 2030 is derived for the German market.
[26]U. S. (3091 counties)1995–2030RDB1B and OAGPartialMore than 600 million on-demand small aircraft trips would compete with automobiles in cost per passenger mile; such number of operations would have negative impacts on the national airspace system, such as airport congestion.
[27]A hypothetical network with 5 nodes and 1–10 daily trip demandsFutureRCirrus SR22 aircraftYesIn order to maximize profit, expected 57.7% of the daily demand should be served/accepted, and an average acceptance rate of approx. 90% might still allow for profitable operations.
[28]GermanyFutureU + RJeppesen airport database and census 2011 data provided by German Federal Statistical OfficeNoA market share of 19% or 235 million trips are estimated for Germany, assuming passenger-specific costs of 0.4€/km for ODAM services, 0.3€/km for cars, and 0.32€/km for the contemporary commercial CS-25 aircraft.
[29]Zurich, SwitzerlandFutureU + RSimulation dataNoVehicle parameters (cruising speed, liftoff time, access time, and price) have a substantial impact on demand and turnover.
[30]U. S.2030U + ROAG, American travel survey, DB1B, FAA airport database, and BADANoThe annual county-to-county person round trips for very light jets, commercial airline, and automobile at one-year interval from 1995 to 2030 were predicted.
[31]Worldwide (4435 cities)2042U + RForecast based on ADI 2012No26 potential markets were identified, regarding large population, limited urban mobility, economic city, and high passenger demand.

U = urban; R = regional.