There is a four-way tie for first place in the most recent edition of the AAM Reality Index, as a slight decline by Volocopter leaves it tied with EHang, Joby and Beta Technologies, with Archer a hair behind in second place.
The March edition of the AAM Reality Index, published by SMG Consulting, shows Volocopter’s score sliding from 8.3/10 to 8/10, reflecting a belief that the startup’s start to production at its facility in Bruchsal, Germany, will be lower rate than previously anticipated, according to Sergio Cecutta, founder and partner at SMG.
“It’s a reflection of a better understanding of their production outlook,” Cecutta says. “The [Bruchsal] facility they have now can basically grow to about 50 airplanes per year. It’s still what we would consider an LRIP [low-rate initial production], especially for advanced air mobility [AAM], and so we wanted to get that into account and that is why there was this minor adjustment.”
Returning from a visit to Volocopter’s headquarters, Cecutta says he is “very confident” in the company’s proposed timeline to type certification and entry-into-service later this year, although he cautions that plans to carry paying passengers at the Paris Olympics this summer may need to be adjusted.
“I don’t know if there will be passengers in Paris, but it will be a demonstration and not a service,” Cecutta says. “The difference there is that you can’t carry paying passengers without a certified vehicle, but there are probably ways that Volocopter and [French aviation regulator] DGAC can agree to some more limited type of demonstration, either with or without passengers.
“But overall, I would say that I feel confident when it comes to their schedule for this year and their road map,” Cecutta adds.
Aside from Volocopter, the only other mover in the latest index update was Aerofugia, which rose from 6.8 to 7.1. Cecutta attributes this to the filing of the Chinese startup’s G-1 certification basis for its AE200 passenger-carrying tiltrotor air taxi for comment with the Civil Aviation Administration of China according to the reports published in aviationweek.com .
The top 15 players in the March edition of the AAM Reality Index were Beta Technologies (8), EHang (8), Joby (8), Volocopter (8), Archer (7.9), Wisk (7.4), Eve (7.2) Vertical Aerospace (7.1), Aerofugia (7.1), Lilium (7), Textron’s Pipistrel (7), Autoflight (6.9), Elroy Air (6.8), Supernal (6.5) and Airbus (6.5).
