• 21 Jun 2022 12:53 AM
• 0

Airbus Collaborates on AAM

Airbus announced two collaborations for its eVTOL ambitions. On April 27, Airbus and ITA Airways, Italy’s national airline, announced a plan to launch AAM services in Italy. The two companies will explore potential use cases and opportunities to deploy the CityAirbus NextGen in the country. Then, on May 4, Airbus said the southern German city of Ingolstadt will serve as a hub for an AAM pilot program. The Air Mobility Initiative is a collaboration between Airbus, German federal and state governments, and commercial entities that seeks to assess the feasibility of commercial eVTOL operations for inter-city transportation.

On May 10, Airbus announced that it had selected California-based MAGicALL to provide the electric motors for the CityAirbus NextGen. A prototype of the aircraft will be powered by a customized version of the MAGiDRIVE, MAGicALL’s newest generation of brushless electric motors. MAGicALL previously contributed to the propulsion for the Airbus Vahana, Airbus’s prototype tilt-wing demonstrator. “The electric motors are a major component of our prototype: the high torque and low weight of the MagiDrive, as well as its robust design, will be highly beneficial for the overall efficiency of the aircraft,” Joerg Mueller, Airbus’s head of urban air mobility, said in a statement.