Is Urban Air Mobility Environmentally Feasible? Defining the Guidelines for a Sustainable Implementation of its Ecosystem

Abstract

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is commonly branded as the upcoming sustainable form of air mobility. Within the aviation sector, the adjective “sustainable” is almost exclusively used in relation with new forms of propulsion, particularly to electric and/or hydrogen energy sources, and in relation to noise levels caused by aviation activities. The same seems to apply for UAM. Limiting a sustainability assessment to the level of emissions (of all types) or of noise is not enough to generate a sustainable mobility system. This paper reviews the state of the art in the field of UAM and wants to assess how much the full meaning of “sustainability” is used in relation to UAM. Moreover, the paper reviews and defines a set of indicators to measure the sustainability of UAM.