Assessing Advanced Air Mobility as Infrastructure in Saxony

Abstract

This study assesses advanced air mobility (AAM) as an infrastructure option in Saxony, focusing on institutional divergences across spatial scales. AAM, consisting of autonomous, electrically powered aircraft such as eVTOLs, is examined through an infrastructural inversion that treats it as infrastructure rather than as emerging technology. This shift highlights not only physical components such as vertiports, energy supply, and communication systems, but also the need for assessment approaches beyond purely technological evaluations. AAM infrastructure may be provided under public, private, or hybrid arrangements. To capture this complexity, this study applies the author-developed infrastructure asset management taxonomy (IAMT), reflecting the professional practice of infrastructure asset managers trained to integrate multiple appraisal methods. Using IAMT, the analysis evaluates the potential economic, ecological, and social impacts of AAM. The results suggest that integration of AAM into Saxony’s public transport networks faces significant constraints under current institutional and policy conditions, since existing e-mobility strategies already cover the roles AAM might fulfil. By emphasising institutional divergences, the study contributes to understanding equity and distributional effects in infrastructure development and concludes that successful adoption requires context-specific planning sensitive to multi-scalar governance.

Keywords

Advanced air mobility / Saxony / Infrastructure assessment / Institutional divergence / Equity / Sustainable mobility

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