Air taxis, aerial drones and other forms of advanced air mobility aircraft may soon be flying over many U.S. cities. These emerging technologies can bring benefits to urban areas but require city leaders to be ready.
“All cities should be prepared for this,” said Orlando, Florida, Mayor Buddy Dyer. “You want to be prepared for changes in technology and how they will affect your land use regulations [and] your zoning.”
Dyer and Wichita, Kansas, Mayor Lily Wu are co-chairs of the National League of Cities’ newly formed Aviation Advisory Forum on Air Mobility and Drone Integration. NLC is hosting a roundtable discussion Wednesday at its annual summit in Tampa, Florida.
The forum looks to connect local government leaders, the federal government and the aviation industry to help integrate advanced air mobility into the U.S. airspace and with cities nationwide, NLC said in a press release. As air taxi and drone operations increase, the forum aims to share best practices with community leaders. Wu said she is looking forward to “having a robust conversation with other leaders across the nation.”
Air taxi developers — which range from startups like Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation to Boeing’s Wisk Aero and Hyundai's Supernal subsidiaries — are planning passenger-carrying flights in major cities in the coming years. These aircraft could also serve law enforcement and fire departments, act as emergency medical transports and carry freight, said Gaël Le Bris, vice president for aviation planning at engineering and consulting firm WSP USA in a 2023 interview. He added that cities need to begin planning “right now.”
The Federal Aviation Administration anticipates air taxi and other new aircraft operators flying between multiple points in the U.S. by 2028. President-elect Donald Trump endorsed the technology in a 2023 video, saying, “I want to ensure that America – not China – leads this revolution in air mobility.”
However, cities have concerns, Dyer said. “We want to gather information and gather the concerns, because we envision that will be the conduit for local governments to the federal government in terms of rulemaking.”
Orlando is working with the Florida transportation department and NASA on developing a vertiport on undeveloped land adjacent to Orlando International Airport, Dyer said. The city is looking to connect the vertiport to its larger transportation network and to ensure that “it's not just wealthy people” who can use air taxis, Dyer said.
Wichita is a locus of aerospace manufacturers including Textron Aviation — the maker of Cessna and Beechcraft airplanes — along with Spirit AeroSystems and Bombardier Learjet. It’s also home to Wichita State University's National Institute for Aviation Research. “Wichita loves aviation and innovation, and so we want to continue being supportive of that industry, but also at the same time think about how this will affect residents,” Wu said.
She’s looking forward to using the NLC Aviation Advisory Forum’s session to help fellow mayors bring information back to their communities. Wu said she sees herself as a “connector” between cities and the air mobility industry. “I think that there are synergies between industry, education and government,” she said. “We need all three pieces to be working towards innovation and towards opportunities.”
