Volocopter Partners With SITA On Urban Air Mobility Infrastructure

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Urban air mobility (UAM) developer Volocopter and SITA, self-described as an information technology (IT) provider to the air transport industry, announced today they have formed a partnership to develop operational infrastructure. Volocopter’s developmental VoloCity electric air taxi is designed to operate in high-density cities, where passengers could hail a flight from one of multiple “vertiports.”

According to a joint press release by the partnership, “SITA will deploy its expertise in air transport for the emerging UAM industry, developing new operating standards and a digital-first passenger experience. SITA’s portfolio includes a wide range of IT solutions, including airport management and operations, passenger operations, flight and aircraft operations, baggage processing, and border management.”

Volocopter’s chief commercial officer Christian Bauer said, “Volocopter consistently takes a holistic ecosystem approach. Working in concert with our partners, we are setting up for commercial operations. This involves establishing the requisite infrastructure, maintenance, flight operations, IT, and customer services. SITA is a leading IT provider for airports and airlines, and we believe there is no better partner to make our seamless travel experience possible.” Sergio Colella, SITA’s president for Europe, added, “Volocopter is in pole position to make electric air taxis a reality, benefiting from its first-mover advantage. At SITA, we will play a key role in delivering this new digital UAM world and defining a seamless, smarter approach to air travel in a city environment. Together we will turn the theory into practice as early as 2024 when we expect the first commercial eVTOLs to take flight.” 

Mark Phelps
Mark Phelps is a senior editor at AVweb. He is an instrument rated private pilot and former owner of a Grumman American AA1B and a V-tail Bonanza.

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9 COMMENTS

  1. What the heck is a, “… holistic ecosystem approach?” I saw nothing about diversity, equity and inclusion mentioned in their business model … what gives? Well … at least it’s “a seamless smarter approach to air travel.” I guess that’s as opposed to a rough dumber approach??

  2. Digital first passenger experience — there I was thinking wandering fingers got you locked up…

  3. Wow! I’m impressed. I’ll be househunting in a couple of years. I can’t wait to move into one of their auctioned-off-at-pennies-on-the-dollar “Vertiport” buildings. But only assuming their business model will serve suburbs as well, and they build facilities to do so. Because Location Location Location and thus the “urbanism” dead end is not gonna work.

  4. As soon as they say “infrastructure” then the whole purpose of point-to-point user defined flight evaporates. What’s the point if flights are only to places that are not your destination?

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