Assessment of the Operational Costs and the Passengers' Willingness-to-Pay to Evaluate the Financial Viability of an Air Taxi Service

Abstract

Several cities and regions have announced to launch electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) based air taxi services in the future. To successfully implement such services, the financial viability must be assessed. As part of the project "SkyCab", an eVTOL based air taxi service concept was designed, associated costs to set-up such service assessed, major impact factors on the pricing identified and the willingness-to-pay of the target customers evaluated. The paper outlines the approach to evaluate the financial viability within five steps. First, the target customer group is identified based on the local mobility demand. Second, route network and vertiport locations are selected meeting the target customer trip demand and providing travel time saving benefits. Third, the willingness-to-pay is estimated: Therefore, the average financial power of the target customer groups is determined, and time and comfort advantages of an air taxi service compared to other means of transportation are evaluated. Fourth, the operational costs under consideration of the entire air taxi ecosystem are identified where pilot, aircraft and overhead costs contribute to 2/3 of the overall operational costs. Last, main operational impact factors such as the utilization rate, occupation rate and level of automation driving the financial viability are evaluated.