Manned and Unmanned Flights in the Urban Air Mobility Era: Impacts and Future Perspectives

It is predicted that more than 70% of the European population and more than 80% of the US population will live in urban areas by 2050 due to rapidly developing urbanization, which means that approximately 80% of the population in more developed regions will reside in urban cities. Urban cities around the world will face increasing mobility and infrastructure problems due to this significant growth. Furthermore, urbanization adversely impacts congestion, pollution, human health, and the environment and imposes substantial costs, particularly due to congestion. Hence new mobility concepts and paradigms have been developed to reduce travel times, eliminate road congestion, and enable point-to-point flights between cities. Urban Air Mobility (UAM) represents a revolutionary innovation not only for the aviation sector but also for mobility systems and urban planning. UAM is an air transportation system, which enables new technologies and is part of an integrated multimodal transportation network for passenger and cargo transportation in urban environments. The UAM vision involves widespread use in urban and suburban environments, which complements the existing transportation systems and contributes to reducing the transportation sector's carbon footprint. Over the past few decades, technological advancements in various areas have revived interest in urban air transportation. In addition to providing benefits for users, UAM is expected to positively affect the economy by creating new markets and employment opportunities related to the production and operation of UAM vehicles and contribute to the development of supporting ground infrastructure. Recent studies have predicted that 5 million UAM vehicles can operate worldwide by 2050, with most designed for urban use scenarios. Since most UAM vehicle concepts are based on electric propulsion systems, local emissions from UAM in urban environments will be close to zero. Various institutions promote UAM since it offers potential benefits for users, the economy, and the environment. Aviation authorities such as the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) work on regulatory frameworks to implement UAM operational concepts and put them into practice. UAM is still at the conceptual stage compared to the existing modes of transportation. This requires more academic, technical, and regulatory studies to minimize costs and maximize benefits. UAM covers a wide range of interests and requires a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to achieve its full potential. Since UAM represents a relatively new and evolving field, there are still areas to explore and uncertainties to address. The current study comprehensively examines the safe and sustainable urban air mobility regulations developed by the United States (US) and the European Union (EU). Then, it evaluates the impacts of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for passenger transport on the current arrival air traffic and future expectations using real-time simulation tools based on these regulations. The study concludes that in a specific flight scenario, UAV operations cause delays in the existing manned air traffic and thus, have adverse economic and environmental impacts. For this reason, UAV-specific arrival routes that interact at a minimum level or do not interact at all with existing manned flight operations should be designed.