Urban air mobility company EHang announced the inauguration of its first European UAM Centre in Spain. Located inside the Lleida–Alguaire International Airport (LEDA), the centre represents the first-of-its-kind in Europe for unmanned electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for the integration of eVTOL aircraft operation with airport infrastructure, air traffic management systems, operational procedures, and other information technologies.
The inception of this UAM centre, a globally pioneering initiative, arises from the collaboration agreement signed between EHang and Aeroports de Catalunya in the field of UAM and will enable European aviation and airport sectors to be positioned at the forefront of global Advanced Air Mobility.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) recently issued the Type Certificate (TC) for EHang’s EH216-S passenger-carrying Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle (UAV) System. An unprecedented milestone in the aviation industry, the EH216-S is the first unmanned eVTOL in the world to obtain TC and be qualified for commercial passenger-carrying UAV operations in China.
The EH216-S deployed at EHang’s European UAM Centre will foster the accumulation of operational experience as well as invaluable knowledge. By integrating vast flight experience gathered from various locations worldwide, this collective information can be leveraged to the development of technological solutions, regulations, processes and procedures for the safe and efficient integration of eVTOL aircraft into European airspace in the future.
The UAM Centre includes a vertiport that is fully compliance with EASA’s design criteria and will enable seamlessly incorporation with the airport terminal, platform, control tower, equipment, procedures and regulations. This state-of-the-art vertiport will set a benchmark for global UAM infrastructure and accumulate a vast amount of knowledge and expertise on the vertiport establishment and operations, which will enable intelligent eVTOL operating models and facilitate their smart deployment across multiple locations.