The Future of Advanced Air Mobility

The eVTOL Industry Drives Record Growth at Vertical Flight Society

The growth of the eVTOL and advanced air mobility industry has resulted in record membership at the Vertical Flight Society (VFS), which now has 160 corporate members. This represents a 60 percent increase since January 2018, when corporate membership first exceeded 100, and a 110 percent increase over the past five years. In addition, the society now has more than 6,300 individual members, nearly a 20 percent net increase since January 2018, when it had 5,300 members. 

Historically, the vertical flight industry has been dominated by helicopter manufacturers and related companies. VFS was founded as the American Helicopter Society in 1943, but it has refocused as the eVTOL sector emerged in the past several years to serve potential new markets, such as urban air taxis, air ambulance services, logistics, cargo, organ transport, and other civil and military missions. 

“As interest in eVTOL/AAM has exploded around the world and attracted nearly $10 billion in investments, VFS has helped build a community for this burgeoning segment, working together to realize the transformative potential of what we see as an electric VTOL revolution,” said VFS executive director Mike Hirschberg. 

VFS sponsors extensive programming in support of the eVTOL sector, including the rotorcraft structures and survivability technical meeting, set for October 27-28 in Hampton Roads, Virginia, and the ninth annual electric VTOL symposium, which is scheduled for Jan. 25-27, 2022, as part of the transformative vertical flight meeting, in San Jose, California. The latter will feature a special event on January 28 at the Hiller Aviation Museum at the adjacent San Carlos airport that will include an outdoor exhibit of the latest eVTOL aircraft. VFS is also hosting four sessions covering vertical flight research, helicopter safety, advanced rotorcraft technology, and AAM developments at the upcoming European Rotors conference on November 16-18 in Cologne, Germany.