Are you AAM ready? Turning opportunity into a lasting strategic advantage 

September 3, 2025

Innovation posts, Advices from our experts

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Aviation is on the brink of a transformation that few industries experience after just a century of existence. Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) is not limited to the arrival of a new aircraft or a single technology, it’s a systemic shift, comparable to the arrival of commercial jets in the 1950s or the rise of low-cost regional aviation in the 1990s.

Unlike those pivotal transitions, AAM goes far beyond passenger transportation, encompassing logistics, healthcare, defense, energy, tourism, and public services. 

The projections are clear: according to multiple consulting firms, the global AAM market is expected to reach 250–300 billion USD by 2040, with an average annual growth rate exceeding 20%. North America is particularly well-positioned, with an estimated potential of nearly 30% of this market, thanks to its industrial ecosystem, vast territories, and already strained logistics corridors. 

This shift is driven by a unique convergence of factors: 

  1. Technological: Recent advances in electric, hybrid, and hydrogen propulsion allow the design of quieter, cleaner, and more economical aircraft than helicopters for a wide range of missions. Today, ranges reach 150–250 kilometers, with operating costs reduced by up to 40% compared to existing platforms. 
  2. Regulatory: Civil authorities (Transport Canada, FAA, EASA) are moving toward harmonized certification frameworks that could enable the first large-scale commercial eVTOL operations before 2030. 
  3. Societal: Environmental pressures and the search for clean intermodal solutions create fertile ground for adoption, especially in cities facing chronic road congestion and ambitious emission-reduction targets. 

AAM is not merely a passenger transportation mode.

The most promising short-term applications are in sectors where time savings, reliability, and accessibility create an immediate competitive advantage:  

  • Healthcare: Delivering an organ, temperature-sensitive drug, or critical sample in minutes instead of an hour can save lives and reduce hospital costs.  
  • Industrial logistics: Just-in-time delivery of critical parts can prevent production stoppages that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per hour. 
  • Energy: Autonomous inspection of pipelines, power grids, or offshore wind farms can drastically reduce maintenance time and costs.  
  • Defense and security: AAM becomes a tool for surveillance, rapid response, and logistical support in hard-to-reach areas.  
  • Tourism and leisure: Already exploring uses to access remote sites or create exclusive experiences. 

These use cases are no longer just concepts: 

  • In Zurich, the Swiss Post–Matternet partnership reduced blood sample delivery time between hospitals from 25 to 7 minutes.   
  • In East Africa, Zipline has already delivered over 14 million doses of vaccines and medicines to rural areas. 
  • In South Korea, several cities have integrated AAM into their urban transport plans for 2035.  
  • In the Gulf, vertiport projects are included in the master plans of new smart cities. 
  • In Canada, several regional airports and hospital groups are already exploring the feasibility of regular cargo drone operations. 

Yet in most organizations, the thinking remains superficial. AAM is often discussed as a distant horizon, while the window of opportunity to position oneself is happening now. Market studies show that in emerging industries, the first 20% of players to position themselves capture up to 60% of long-term value. This is not just a matter of technology or certification—it’s about ecosystems, partnerships, regulatory influence, financing, and credibility. Early movers can influence standards, shape corridors, and secure prime positions in value chains. 

Being “AAM Ready” doesn’t mean being ready to operate tomorrow. It means having clarified your strategic positioning, identified priority use cases, assessed viable business models, secured technological and operational partnerships, anticipated regulations, prepared infrastructure, and, most importantly, integrated this dimension into investment and innovation planning. This is a cross-functional exercise that cannot be handled solely by an engineering or operations department. 

At Innovitech, we help organizations move from idea to structured project.

We:  

  • Analyze each organization’s assets, constraints, and opportunities ;
  • Map AAM potential by sector, location, value chain, and market trends ;
  • Prioritize bankable use cases where value is tangible and measurable ;
  •  Structure pilot projects capable of attracting public funding, private investment, and industrial benefits—leveraging all available tools, including Industrial and Technological Benefits (ITB/IRB) obligations in the defense sector. 

Our approach is ecosystem-based: we connect public and private stakeholders, from aircraft manufacturers to infrastructure operators, from municipalities to investors, including regulators and innovation clusters. We ensure that each project is aligned with Canadian and international regulatory developments to avoid sequencing errors or premature investments in non-certifiable technology. And we work at the intersection of industrial sectors, where Advanced Air Mobility becomes a cross-cutting driver of competitiveness and transformation.  

Advanced Air Mobility is not a tech fad or a curiosity for air shows, it’s an emerging infrastructure that will reshape territorial competitiveness, streamline supply chains, and redefine access to essential services. Organizations preparing today won’t just follow, they will set the standards, influence regulation, and capture a significant share of the value. Others will simply adapt to the rules set by others. The question is not whether this transition will happen, but whether you will be ready to be a leading player in it. 

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