AtkinsRéalis bringing holistic industry expertise to upcoming AAM ‘living lab’
August 7, 2024
Ahead of the opening of the Oxfordshire-based ‘living lab’ later this year, James Richmond – head of advanced air mobility at AtkinsRéalis – elaborated on the key industry expertise his company is bringing to the emerging Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) ecosystem.
Leveraging industry experience
Identifying three primary sectors concerning the ‘future of flight’ (transportation, the environment and cities themselves), “we always knew that future flight was a market we cared about to have a positive impact on the world in terms of sustainability and also from a social value angle,” explained Richmond.
AtkinsRéalis’ extensive experience encompassing decades of involvement in some of the world’s largest airports (including landside, airside operations and digital technology) – combined with its transportation business (looking at city planning and multimodal transportation) – make it a prime candidate to offer expertise with the AAM sector. Having started with “really key nucleus projects” through the Future Flight Challenge, such as the Advanced Mobility Ecosystem Consortium (AMEC) and CALEUS, AtkinsRéalis has now “scaled this work globally” across the UK, Canada, the US and the Middle East.
Advanced Mobility Ecosystem Consortium
In particular, AtkinsRéalis’ participation in AMEC – which was “really just kicking off as a project two years ago” – continues to progress towards demonstrating the commercial and operational viability of AAM in the UK. Following a NATS-run simulated flight from Bristol to London City, an upcoming milestone will see Vertical Aerospace’s VX4 fly from Farnborough Airport into London Heathrow, as well as local flights from the consortium’s upcoming ‘living lab’ by Skyports at Bicester aerodrome (expected to be operational by the end of the year).
While AtkinsRéalis “also have a distinction in that [the company is] helping vehicle OEMs design, develop and certify their aircraft,” it will play a major role in orchestrating events on the ground; including a passenger technology solution encompassing hardware such as biometric scanners, security gates and weighing scales. Adjacent to landside operations, AtkinsRéalis will also work to manage airside operations such as ground handling, firefighting and emergency procedures.
Public perception of AAM
Citing the focus groups studied as part of the Bicester planning application, “the public have been really positive and engaging about the prospect of a future mode of transport,” explained Richmond. Public awareness of increased small drone use scenarios is also helping “prepare the public for when they engage with a larger use case,” especially if those drones are being implemented in a medical delivery or other “social positive use case”.
A positive passenger experience itself is also imperative, hence AtkinsRéalis is testing its terminal operations “with real passengers and the public, getting feedback at that early stage”. Richmond also highlighted the need to reflect AAM’s timesaving benefits within the customer experience itself, reflecting that “that time saving has to be extrapolated to the journey through the vertiports and also the booking process” – potentially through the verification of ID and biometrics at the point of booking, rather than at the vertiport.
Early adopters?
With the upcoming Bicester ‘living lab’ providing a potential blueprint for UK operations, what might the global stage of AAM adoption look like? Richmond concluded that the Middle East is “definitely a first mover” regarding use cases, in part due to “elements of political will, appetite for innovation… and elements of greenfield development that lends itself to integrating a new transport mode into the existing environment,” with the Middle East able to “take a holistic view quicker” than perhaps other locations can.
However, the UK’s strong aviation heritage (combined with “fantastic talent” across the UK) will need to be balanced with a different operating environment. “I think we’ve also got a challenge to embrace in the UK in engaging with local authorities … I think we’ve got that extra step to do that engagement at a local level first,” he added.
The future of flight
Recognising that upcoming focuses in coming years (beyond vehicle certification) will predominately be challenges of scaling the ecosystem and value chain, Richmond explained that the future of flight is a result of the intersection of many different sectors. AtkinsRéalis is “fortunate to be able to take that and our multi-sector approach so we can take our learnings from vehicle design, aviation, infrastructure design, city design… and bring this knowledge from the other sectors,” he added.
“The key to the success of AAM is that we approach it as a system level, at an ecosystem level, and as holistically as possible,” he concluded. “AtkinsRéalis are able to do that because of the sectors in which we operate”.
