Finance, Taxes, Insurance
Consultants Offer Sober Assessment of eVTOL Viability
This week's Revolution Aero conference assessed the hype around the new sector of aviation
Revolution Aero 2024 conference in London
Independent experts offered an candid assessment of the challenges facing advanced air mobility at the Revolution Aero conference in London on Tuesday. © AIN/Charles Alcock

The much-hyped advanced air mobility (AAM) industry is facing a reality check as development costs for new eVTOL aircraft have increased at a time when available capital seems to be contracting. This was a clear point of consensus among analysts assessing the state of the precocious new sector of aviation in the opening session of the Revolution Aero conference in London this morning.

“The unfortunate reality is that it takes a lot of money to develop these aircraft, and the most recent calculations show that it takes more like $1.5 billion [per program],” said Sergio Cecutta from SMG Consultancy. He pointed out that this estimate represents a 50% increase over the $1 billion figure that has been a commonly accepted benchmark as recently as last year.