The AAM Commuter: Fly me to work — and back
A recent study revealed the potential benefits of commuting by AAM
September 28, 2025 |
It’s been said that ‘Time is money.’ This is perhaps most relevant when it comes to the daily commute many people experience getting to and from work. The promise of time savings by commuting via advanced air mobility (AAM) piqued the interest of four researchers, three from the University of Illinois, Chicago, United States, and one from Walmart Global Tech. Together, the four explored the economic, environmental, and energy feasibility to be published in December 2025 issue of Transport Economics and Management.
The study focused on the early stage of AAM deployment and used the Chicago, Illinois metropolitan region for its modeling and the Joby S4 and Lillium Jet as their studied aircraft. The study set $150,000 as the annual income threshold, above which commuters are considered to take AAM. They defined the dynamics of electric vertical and takeoff and landing (eVTOL) operations between a vertiport pair in various operational states: in-service flying, relocation flying, charging and parking within the context of variable operational and commuter time period constraints.
Sky high savings for commuters
The study revealed four conclusions:
- Commuters will realize a significant reduction in travel time.
- eVTOLs will be expensive to own and operate in the early stage of AAM deployment. Continuous improvement of eVTOL cost efficiency is necessary to economically justify its use for commuting. To recover operating costs, AAM operators should explore revenue-generating opportunities using the empty seats on the relocation eVTOL flights, for example, letting relocating flights carry packages for delivery.
- The study found that as it relates to the generalized travel cost, the travel time saving benefit from taking eVTOL dominates over the effect of higher operating cost of eVTOL than auto driving. This generalized cost reduction could justify government support in the forms of R&D investment and subsidy to bring the eVTOL cost down and accelerate the AAM deployment.
- Because eVTOLs require significantly greater power to fly than by cars to travel on the ground, AAM for commuting will use more energy and produce more CO emissions than auto driving. That means future R&D efforts should focus on enhancing the energy efficiency of eVTOLs using a multi-faceted approach considering the aerodynamic, structural, battery, and propulsion advancements in eVTOL design. The study revealed that the more streamlined airframe of Lilium Jet than Joby S4 can be a contributor to the reduced energy use. Furthermore, understanding the relationship between eVTOL power requirement and seating capacity is also needed to design the right-sized eVTOL aircraft with the best energy and environmental performance.
The study concluded that by commuting by AAM substantial travel time could be saved compared to commuting by automobile. Furthermore, although vehicle operating costs will be higher if commuting by eVTOL, the overall travel cost will be lower for commuters.
Keywords: Advanced Air Mobility (AAM)Electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL), CommutingTime-expanded network model economic feasibility, energy and environmental feasibility
Top 3 Takeaways
- Commuters who can afford to commute to and from work via AAM (those earning US$150,000/yr or more) will save a significant amount of time.
- AAM will use more power than gasoline cars and emit more carbon monoxide so a focus of integrating AAM should be on developing greater energy efficiency for the eVTOLs commuters will use.
- The time saving benefits of commuting by AAM warrant government subsidies and investment in R&D to accelerate this new form of transportation into society.
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