A Mathematical Model for Scheduling Electrical Vertical Takeoff and Landing Vehicle Flights

As the effects of climate change become more prominent, there are concerns about the environmental impacts of air travel, especially for shorter flights that many consider an unnecessary waste of resources. This includes many flights between cities in the same state where driving (or other public transit if available) would take the same or less time than going through an airport. To improve this situation, there has been a movement for diversification of travel options in the US, and new modes of transportation are being developed. As new modes of transportation arise, new models become necessary in order to be able to study and analyze how to best use these new technologies to improve mobility and integrate them with the electric grid. This model will work in tandem with other studies as part of NASA's Advanced Air Mobility Mission, which seeks to transport people and cargo at low altitudes. At this time, the project is still in its initial stages, with further studies needed to adequately estimate eVTOL parameters, travel demands, electrical power demands, and vertiport installation requirements. This paper proposes a mathematical model that can be deployed to simulate the behavior of the transit network once those parameters have been estimated and is part of an effort to further improve mobility and transportation in the future.