Melbourne, Florida, March 16, 2022 – Eve UAM, LLC (“Eve”), an Embraer S.A. (“Embraer”) company, has formed a consortium of leading Urban Air Mobility (UAM) organizations and technology enablers, including Skyports, L3Harris Technologies, and the Community Air Mobility Initiative (CAMI) to develop a Concept of Operations (CONOPS) for UAM operations between Miami International Airport (MIA) and the Miami Beach Convention Center. This agnostic document is intended to be the first of several deliverables for bringing UAM operations to Miami-Dade.
The consortium examined the ecosystem required for both passenger and vehicle journeys, received valuable insights and feedback from stakeholders across Miami-Dade County, and accessed locally, publicly available information. The data were used to establish a foundational understanding of how UAM could safely support an airport shuttle use case in the county.
Each of the consortium partners has been playing an essential role within this collaboration. Skyports designs, builds, and operates take-off and landing infrastructures for UAM aircraft, L3Harris integrates next-generation Air Traffic Management (ATM) technologies to enable UAM operations, and CAMI supports the responsible integration of UAM into communities.
“Miami-Dade County and Florida present a great opportunity for Eve to create a blueprint that can be replicated in markets in North America and other regions as we look toward the introduction of UAM operations. Eve and the consortium have gained valuable insights into how best we, and our peers, can prepare the ecosystem to launch and scale safely. We are excited to continue working with all stakeholders in Miami-Dade County and the community on the next phases of this concept of operations,” said Andre Stein, co-CEO of Eve.
“Skyports is proud to partner with this consortium and community leaders to contribute our infrastructure knowledge to the future of Urban Air Mobility in Miami-Dade. We believe this study is an important first step to working with the community as well as local industry to ensure vertiports can be delivered with strong local support. As Miami-Dade County begins preparation for Urban Air Mobility operations in the coming years we look forward to working with local and state leaders to make this a reality,” said Duncan Walker, CEO of Skyports.
The consortium is now seeking community input on the first phase of this CONOPS and will hold various “listen and learn” sessions with community stakeholders, our peers, and potential operators to examine how additional procedures and frameworks can be developed in the coming months and years to facilitate the successful adoption of UAM operations in Miami-Dade. This feedback will allow the consortium to better understand Miami-Dade’s unique operating environment, establish a more detailed flight profile, address community concerns, and determine how charging infrastructure for electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft can be safely built into a future UAM ecosystem.
The listen-and-learn period is expected to last until June 30, 2022, during which time feedback and requests to speak with the team can be addressed to Contact@EveAirMobility.com. Following the conclusion of the listen-and-learn period, the team will incorporate the community’s input and present the findings to the county and public stakeholders later this summer.