Urban air mobility regional landing site feasibility and fare model analysis. This task is an enhancement to the isaac FY16 study on-demand mobility regional impact analysis, previously performed…

This federal contract award to the National Institute of Aerospace Associates (NIA), a non-profit research organization, is an enhancement to a previous NASA study on on-demand urban air mobility (UAM). The objective is to analyze the feasibility and economics of establishing a network of regional UAM landing sites, including evaluating the potential to relax current safety guidelines to reduce land requirements and costs. The analysis will also investigate dynamic pricing fare models to optimize revenue and demand forecasts. This $362,848 cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order is being performed for NASA's Langley Research Center. Major subcontractors include Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech Research Corporation, who will provide research, analysis, and subject matter expertise to support the landing site and fare model studies. No set-aside designation is indicated for this contract.

Urban air mobility regional landing site feasibility and fare model analysis. This task is an enhancement to the isaac FY16 study on-demand mobility regional impact analysis, previously performed under NASA/NIA contract no: NNL13AA08B; task order no. NNL16AA36T. The analysis conducted for the FY16 study indicates that finding sufficient take-off and landing site locations and the associated cost could be a significant constraint on expanding an on-demand commuter air taxi service. Initial results indicated that 400 to 1000 sites could be needed to ensure short ground segment access and egress times. However, a number of these sites may not generate sufficient demand to justify the cost. Current FAA guidelines for helicopter operations for the final approach and takeoff area plus safety buffer requires approximately 0.5 acres of land for a single pad (sized for a four seat aircraft). In many regions, such as northern california and washington D.C., real estate is expensive to purchase or lease and could add significantly to the overall operations cost. The use of publicly owned land for some sites is a possibility. The objective of this landing site analysis is to look in some detail at a sample of potential sites, consider the possibility of relaxing current safety guidelines to reduce the land area required and generate improved estimates of costs. Given this improved understanding, the set of landing sites can be reduced by eliminating uneconomic sites. The demand forecast then needs to be regenerated, based on a realistic set of sites. In addition, the analysis conducted for the FY16 study indicates that demand is very sensitive to the fare model. One potential on-demand air taxi operator, uber, has indicated that a dynamic pricing scheme would be used that varies fares according to demand. The likely model would be to quote a single origin to destination fare that includes the cost of any required ground segments. A dynamic pricing scheme is attractive because IT can stimulate demand and encourage consolidation of passengers into sharing a vehicle by offering lower fares when necessary and at times of very high demand, can ensure higher fares maximize profit while discouraging overload of facilities. The FY16 study used simple non-dynamic fare models. The objective of this fare model analysis is to incorporate dynamic pricing and investigate schemes to optimize revenue. The demand forecast will then be regenerated, based on a dynamic pricing fare model. Reasonable improvements in vehicle design, battery and charging technology, and cost reductions expected in the period of 10 to 20 years hence will be assumed. This analysis shall be performed for northern CA and one other region as agreed with NASA.