Factors Affecting Demand Consolidation in Urban Air Taxi Operation

Urban air taxi (UAT) is envisioned as a point-to-point, (nearly) on-demand, and per-seat operation of passenger-carrying urban air mobility (UAM) in its mature state. A high flight load factor has been identified as one of the influential components in the successful operation of UAT. However, the uncertainties in demand, aircraft technology, and concept of operations have raised doubts about the viability of UAT. This study examines the impacts of exogenous parameters, such as demand intensity, demand spread, and ground speed, in addition to design parameters, including aerial speed, maximum acceptable delay, and reservations on average load factor and rate of rejected requests. The dynamic and stochastic problem of UAT fleet operation is studied by implementing a dynamic framework that aims to provide a solution to the problem via a discrete-event simulation. The results highlight the significance of demand spread, ground speed, and maximum acceptable delay in demand consolidation. Therefore, to ensure a high aircraft load factor, the UAT operator should specify the maximum acceptable delay and reservation time window given the demand pattern and ground-based transportation in the network.