Eve Air Mobility 超越航空器本身

14th October 2026

Feature

The advanced air mobility (AAM) industry is entering a new phase. For years, most focus has been on the aircraft themselves: their configurations, electric propulsion systems, performance and certification paths. While these technical milestones remain vital, it’s becoming clear that getting eVTOL aircraft into commercial service takes far more than building the aircraft.

As eVTOL programmes move closer to certification, the spotlight has widened to include everything that supports them: infrastructure, energy access, integrated airspace, clear regulations, safe procedures, comprehensive services and support solutions and public trust. Making eVTOLs a success won’t hinge on one big breakthrough, but on many different players, including manufacturers, operators, airports, vertiport builders, energy companies, regulators, air navigation service providers, local governments and emergency services, all working together.

For airports, this shift brings both opportunities and questions. Airports could become key hubs for early AAM networks, linking travellers with city centres, business districts and other transport connections. But airports are one piece of the AAM ecosystem puzzle, which will also include heliports, general aviation facilities, and eventually new urban vertiports.

The question is no longer whether this infrastructure will be needed, but how much the industry needs for its first operations and how it can evolve as the market matures.

From vision to entry into service (EIS)

At first, many people envisioned AAM as a network of brand-new, purpose-built vertiports. That long-term vision is still exciting, but the conversation is becoming more practical. People realise that the infrastructure we need to get started isn’t what we will need once the industry matures. Instead of building networks up front, the focus is now on identifying viable initial routes, finding the right places to start and making targeted investments that can support safe EIS.

Existing aviation assets play an important role. Airports, heliports and general aviation sites already offer the know-how, safety systems, connectivity and often passenger facilities needed for flight operations. By using these assets, the industry can reduce complexity and gain valuable experience as it rolls out.

However, not every existing site will be suitable. Each location needs to be checked against the type of aircraft, the planned operations and the local environment. Factors such as available space, obstacle environments and electrical capacity, passenger access, airspace, security and emergency plans all matter. Even so, adapting the infrastructure we already have could be a smarter way to get started than jumping straight into building everything from scratch. In some cases, investments in energy infrastructure could also support electric buses, electric vehicles (EVs) and other transportation services, improving asset utilisation while helping prepare for future AAM operations.

Across the industry, regulators and stakeholders appear to be converging on the view that the path to EIS is unlikely to depend on building an entirely new infrastructure network from day one. Early operations are expected to leverage existing airports and heliports, while dedicated vertiports are introduced as demand and operational experience grow. The goal is to launch meaningful services that build experience, test ideas and allow steady, practical growth.

The lessons learned during this initial phase will ultimately help build the infrastructure, standards and operating models required for broader adoption.

Eve Air Mobility

Luiz Mauad, VP of customer services at Eve Air Mobility

Building infrastructure for scale

Starting pragmatically doesn’t mean ignoring the future. Facilities built now might serve operators, different aircraft types and business models for years.

In the United States, Archer, BETA and Macquarie Capital launched America’s Consortium for Electric Skyways (ACES). Their goal is to electrify aviation sites with charging systems that use open standards and can serve different aircraft manufacturers. Using common standards for charging and communication will make life easier for everyone and help avoid a patchwork of isolated networks. The challenge is to establish sufficient common ground to ensure safety, growth and investor confidence without constraining innovation.

Florida offers another implementation-focused example. Through its partnership with the Florida Department of Transportation at SunTrax, Eve is helping advance the infrastructure, operational concepts and ecosystem readiness required for future AAM operations.

Other markets are also developing facilities as part of defined networks. In Dubai, Skyports partnered with the Roads and Transport Authority and Joby to complete a facility described as the world’s first commercial vertiport. Right next to Dubai International Airport, this hub anchors a planned city-wide network, combining passenger check-in, flight operations, charging and easy links to other modes of transport.

These projects show that infrastructure is moving from ideas to reality. The focus is now on implementation: financing, shared use, phased expansion and the allocation of responsibilities and investment. Underlying many of these decisions is another critical question: how future operations will be powered.

Eve Air Mobility

Early AAM operations are now expected to use existing infrastructure before progressing to purpose-built vertiports

Energy as an enabler

Whether a site can work also depends on having steady, reliable electricity. As with physical infrastructure, the power needed at the start is much less than a busy, mature network will require. Early flights might be a limited number of aircraft movements at selected sites, giving electrical systems room to grow as demand and know-how increase.

Preparing a site for electric aviation involves more than installing charging equipment. Planners need to know how much power is available, how it will affect the local grid and how charging will work as things ramp up. Factors like connection speed, peak-demand management, back-up systems, future needs and even local grid characteristics and constraints all play a role. Sometimes, the grid needs an upgrade; other times, battery storage can help smooth out demand and keep things running, especially where grid power is limited.

That’s why aviation and energy companies need to team up early. This year, Eve Air Mobility and Hitachi Energy agreed to work together to power vertiports, looking at everything from grid connections to high-power charging and even reusing old aircraft batteries for energy storage. These kinds of partnerships make it clear that no single organisation can provide every component of the ecosystem.

The same collaborative approach is equally important in the regulatory environment, where authorities worldwide are working to ensure infrastructure and operations can evolve safely alongside the technology.

Eve Air Mobility

Eve Air Mobility and Hitachi Energy are working together to power vertiports

Building readiness through regulation

Regulators are creating ways for stakeholders to test ideas, gather data and develop rules with safety in mind.

Brazil is building foundations across policy, regulation, airspace and urban planning. Recently, the Ministry of Ports and Airports launched a public consultation on a national AAM policy, covering airspace, environmental impacts, infrastructure and responsibilities across different levels of government.

Other initiatives include ANAC’s (the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil) regulatory sandbox for vertiports, the BR-UAM programme led by ANAC and DECEA (Brazil’s Department of Airspace Control), and a working group established by the City of São Paulo. Together, these efforts are exploring operations, infrastructure, airspace and urban planning while bringing government, airports, industry and local authorities together.

In the US, the FAA launched the eIPP, or Electric Vertical Take-off and Landing Integration Pilot Program. Through public-private partnerships, the programme aims to accelerate safe operations in the National Airspace System and ensure that aircraft, infrastructure, airspace and procedures are considered together.

In Europe, meanwhile, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has set out technical guidelines for vertiports, covering site design, obstacles, signage and operations in densely populated areas.

Governments don’t have to wait for every technical detail to be settled. Policy development, regulatory testing and stakeholder engagement can progress alongside aircraft development, helping identify challenges early and reinforcing a broader reality: aircraft, infrastructure, energy systems, airspace and regulation can no longer be developed independently.

A collaborative approach to ecosystem development

At Eve, we believe aircraft and ecosystem development must progress together. This means engaging stakeholders early to address the interconnected requirements for infrastructure, energy, airspace, regulation, services and community acceptance. This approach has guided our ecosystem summits in Brazil and in Florida, both designed to bring public authorities and industry partners together to lay the foundations for commercial AAM operations.

Eve is also progressing its engineering prototype flight-test campaign. The aircraft recently completed its first partial transition flight, switching on the rear pusher propeller and beginning the transition towards wing-borne flight. These test results are helping us expand the aircraft’s flight envelope and confirm its performance.

In parallel, preparations are advancing for the certification-conforming prototypes that will support the certification flight-test campaign with ANAC. Eve began its type certification process with the Brazilian authority in 2022, engaged the FAA in 2023 for concurrent validation and applied to EASA in 2026 to initiate European validation. These activities show why regulatory collaboration is part of ecosystem development. Ultimately, success will depend not only on certifying the aircraft, but on ensuring the broader ecosystem is ready to support safe, scalable operations from day one.

Starting pragmatically and scaling safely

The road ahead is getting clearer as we move forward. Launching the first eVTOL flights doesn’t mean every city needs an outstanding vertiport network right away. What’s needed are smart early use cases, the right mix of new or existing infrastructure, dedicated partners and a shared focus on safety. These first steps will help set standards, refine how things work and guide where to invest next.

Safety has to stay at the heart of everything as the industry grows. The real challenge is not just to expand quickly, but to do so responsibly, keeping safety, reliability and public trust front and centre, as aviation always has.

Airports have a lot to offer, thanks to their experience, strong safety culture, great connections and trusted environments. But the bigger ecosystem also needs heliports, urban sites, energy providers, authorities, regulators, operators and communities all pulling in the same direction.

A mature AAM network will be built progressively. Success will depend on starting with what is necessary, preserving flexibility and ensuring that early investments support future growth. AAM will be judged not only by how well the aircraft perform, but by how effectively the ecosystem works around them. 

Eve Air Mobility

Building the correct infrastructure is an essential element of commercialising advanced air mobility