Air Taxi Readiness Index 2023

The Air Taxi Readiness Index (ATRI), now in its third iteration, is a tool to help measure the level of preparedness for the upcoming generation of passenger- and cargo-carrying Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) vehicles in 60 selected territories. 

We assess the preparedness of these selected territories in the race for vertical take-off and landing air mobility.

After several years of breathless hype surrounding the predicted new age of aerial mobility, the coming few years will test operators’ abilities to successfully convert concept to reality and commercialize their early propositions. The struggle is on to gain mission-critical regulatory approvals and to deploy assets into early use cases. Major public commitments, such as Volocopter’s commitment to services at the 2024 Olympic games, are set to make or break, presenting a major test not only of their own but of the sector’s broader credibility.

Whilst the air taxi vision remains as exciting as ever, we think it always pays to scrutinize the hype. There’s still a long way to go before we see on-demand air taxis as a mainstream mobility option. AAM will need to evolve through multiple use cases, including scheduled regional connectivity, helicopter displacement, and cargo transport, before it reaches the maturity across all readiness metrics required for mass deployment.