Joby, Groupe ADP Continue to Top Latest AAM Indexes

Joby Aviation and Groupe ADP retained the top spots on SMG Consulting’s Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Reality Index and the AAM Infrastructure Index respectively. 

Joby maintained its status as the company most likely to introduce its eVTOL aircraft into the market. Groupe ADP, meanwhile, is believed to be the frontrunner to deploy multiple vertiports. 

Out of an entrant pool of over 800 companies, Santa Cruz-based Joby received the highest AAM Reality Index (ARI) score of 8.7. At the same time, it remains far ahead of the other electric aircraft manufacturers with US$1,900 million in funding, which is one of the most important factors to be considered in the index rating.

The ARI score is calculated taking five elements into account: the funding the company has obtained, the company’s leadership, the technology readiness of the aircraft, the certification status of the aircraft, and the progress of achieving full-scale manufacturing. 

German air taxi developer Volocopter and San Jose-based Archer Aviation stayed in second and third place respectively. However, Beta Technologies, who are creating the ALIA eVTOL, moved up one spot and now sits fourth ahead of China’s EHang. 

Sergio Cecutta, founder and partner at SMG Consulting, told Asian Sky Group that Beta’s promotion can be attributed to “the inclusion of the new Beta Technologies eCTOL, the CX300, that puts them closer to a 2025 certification.”

One of the notable new additions to the AAM Reality Index was Chengdu-based eVTOL manufacturer Aerofugia, which gained a score of 6.4 after recently announcing plans to obtain type certification for its AE200 aircraft. 

Cecutta pointed out that Aerofugia’s inclusion stems from its major developments as of late. 

“We included Aerofugia as it is making significant progress in its eVTOL development, having recently hovered their full-scale demonstrator and having opened a certification project with the CAAC (Civil Aviation Administration of China),” he said. 

On the infrastructure side of things, Groupe ADP has not been dethroned from the top spot for the fifth consecutive time but is rapidly being caught up by UrbanV, an Italian-based AAM firm. Beta Technologies, Ferrovial, and Urban-Air Port rounded off the top five with AAM Infrastructure Readiness (AIR) ratings of 6.3 apiece.

Similar to the ARI score, the AIR score is also derived from five key factors: the amount of funding the company has received, the team that is in charge of the firm, the partnerships set up to establish an AAM ecosystem, the regulatory progress made, and the headway made in deploying the vertiports.

A new entrant – Munich Airport International – came in at sixth as one of the leading European companies, according to Cecutta. The company works with major OEMs like Airbus and is a subsidiary of Munich Airport.

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