VPorts creates first AAM corridor between SYR and Québec

VPorts, a Québec-based world leader in the design, construction, and operation of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) infrastructure, announces the creation of the first international electric AAM corridor between Syracuse Hancock International Airport (SYR) and VPorts’ vertiport in Mirabel (Québec, Canada). This corridor will foster the establishment of an AAM ecosystem that will provide a platform for full commercial cargo transport operations using electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft (large, helicopter-sized ‘drones’). The first eVTOL aircraft test flights are planned for 2023.

“The aim of the corridors is to build an AAM ecosystem that will provide a platform for full commercial cargo transport operations using eVTOLs,” commented Dr. Fethi Chebil, President and Founder of VPorts.

“They will allow the consortium’s members to explore all aspects of AAM, including goods transportation, charging readiness, stakeholder management, business cases, security and safety protocols, social acceptability and urban integration of infrastructure and operations. Many companies and organisations rapidly investing in these related new capabilities are present in Central New York State today with good prospects of growth, and others are likely to be attracted to the region.”

New York State Governor Kathy Hochul recently announced that the state will be providing NUAIR with an additional $21 million in ‘Central New York Rising’ Upstate Revitalisation Initiative funding that will allow NUAIR to continue to cultivate the world-leading un-crewed aircraft systems (UAS) and AAM industry hub in Central New York and the Mohawk Valley. The additional funding will allow for critical infrastructure to be tested and deployed to enable advanced industry applications, state agency adoption of UAS, AAM development, and associated workforce development. NUAIR continues to be an industry catalyst due to its unique capabilities, years of experience, and proven safety record through thousands of advanced UAS operations.

A recent study estimates that the full expansion of UAS and AAM-related industries to Central New York could create over 8,100 full-time jobs by 2040, while incrementally generating over $1.3 billion in direct, indirect, and induced economic benefits. This includes direct effects of investment in the region of up to $130 million, the indirect effects of household earnings of workers, and the induced effects of value-added benefits and additional industry earnings. This impact on the region will produce jobs for an emerging knowledge-based economic sector, with highly skilled workers sourced in part by existing New York State university institutions.

Syracuse Hancock International Airport (SYR) aspires to reconnect communities who have been previously cut off from economic opportunities due to a lack of traditional transportation infrastructure. Becoming a partner in creating the AAM corridor will allow underserved communities a new transportation alternative that will reconnect those communities and provide additional economic opportunities to its members.

The project stakeholders intend to work closely and proactively with Transport Canada, NAV CANADA, and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to leverage their respective expertise and regulatory authority to foster the implementation of an international framework that tests relevant technology, regulatory alignment and air traffic procedures and management.