The RATP Group, Groupe ADP and Choose Paris Region have selected 30 companies to participate in their Re.Invent Air Mobility Initiative. Chosen from a pool of 150 applications from 25 countries, each company will focus on one of five categories in the urban air mobility (UAM) sphere: vehicle development, urban infrastructure, operations, airspace integration and acceptability. The initiative, which is designed to “bring together an ecosystem around urban air mobility” in the region around Paris, France, will be based at the Pontoise-Cormeilles-en-Vexin airfield.
“The success of this call for international interest shows that there is strong support for the structuring of an air mobility industry in the Paris Region,” said Groupe ADP deputy CEO Edward Arkwright. “Alongside all these industrial, academic and research players, and thanks to the setup of a test area at our Pontoise airfield, the first of its kind in Europe, we will now be able to boost its development.”
Initiative operations will be conducted in cooperation with France’s Direction générale de l’aviation civile (Directorate General for Civil Aviation). Activities are expected to begin in June 2021 with Volocopter’s test of its VoloCity electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle. In addition to Volocopter, companies selected for the initiative include Airbus, Air France, CAE, Dassault Falcon Services, EHang, ESTACA, Pipistrel, Safran, Thales SIX and UC Berkeley.
