Advanced air mobility (AAM) is often presented as an industry that still needs to be built. New aircraft, vertiports, infrastructure, regulatory frameworks: significant uncertainty remains around how quickly the market will develop. <\/p>\n\n
Yet airports do not need to wait for all these pieces to fall into place before taking action. They already hold some of the assets that are hardest to replicate and most valuable to the players entering this emerging industry. <\/p>\n\n
This is the central argument developed by Sofiane Benyouci, President and Chief Executive Officer and Senior Partner at Innovitech, following a session delivered at the ACI World Airport Executive Leadership Program in Montr\u00e9al. <\/p>\n\n
When we think about airport assets, runways, terminals and land naturally come to mind. But their real strategic advantage lies elsewhere. <\/p>\n\n
Sofiane identifies four key assets: access to regulated airspace, land behind a secure perimeter, an established position with regulatory authorities, and a social licence built over years of engagement with surrounding communities. <\/p>\n\n
Unlike physical infrastructure, these assets are extremely difficult to replicate quickly. They can therefore give airports meaningful leverage when negotiating with companies, governments and investors looking to develop new advanced air mobility capabilities. <\/p>\n\n
Mirabel offers a concrete example. More than two decades after its last scheduled passenger flight, YMX is now at the centre of NEXUS, a Canadian initiative dedicated to autonomous and uncrewed systems. What made the site relevant was not passenger volume, but the combination of its infrastructure, secure perimeter and access to regulated airspace. <\/p>\n\n
Faced with an emerging market, two approaches can seem logical: wait for regulations and technologies to mature or, conversely, invest quickly to gain a first-mover advantage. <\/p>\n\n
Both carry risks. <\/p>\n\n
Waiting too long can gradually reduce an airport\u2019s leverage. Regulatory frameworks take shape, partners establish positions and projects move forward without it. On the other hand, investing in infrastructure based on a manufacturer\u2019s timeline exposes an airport to delays and strategic shifts in a still-volatile industry. <\/p>\n\n
A third path is emerging: rather than starting by building, start by structuring. <\/p>\n\n
Experiences in Orlando, Paris, Abu Dhabi and Montr\u00e9al demonstrate the importance of engaging stakeholders in the right sequence. Regulators come first, followed by public authorities, communities and potential users. Financing and commercial partners come later, once much of the project\u2019s uncertainty has already been reduced. <\/p>\n\n
This approach ultimately raises a strategic question: what position does the airport want to occupy? <\/p>\n\n
It can remain a host and lease its land. It can also become a convener, an operator or, eventually, export the expertise developed at its own site to other markets. <\/p>\n\n
There is no single right answer. For some airports, remaining a landlord and host will be entirely consistent with their priorities and capabilities. The important point is to make that choice deliberately, before short-term commercial decisions limit future opportunities. <\/p>\n\n
AAM therefore does not necessarily require airports to predict which aircraft will be certified or exactly when the market will take off. The work can begin today: understand the assets only they possess, determine the position they want to occupy and identify the stakeholders whose support will help them get there. <\/p>\n\n
In an upcoming report, Innovitech will explore this thinking in greater depth and share Sofiane Benyouci\u2019s full analysis of the assets, strategies and models that can help airports position themselves within the emerging advanced air mobility ecosystem.<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Advanced air mobility (AAM) is often presented as an industry that still needs to be built. New aircraft, vertiports, infrastructure, regulatory frameworks: significant uncertainty remains around how quickly the market will develop. Yet airports do not need to wait for all these pieces to fall into place before taking action. They already hold some of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4850,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-innovation-posts"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovitech.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovitech.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovitech.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/innovitech.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/innovitech.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4851"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/innovitech.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4852,"href":"https:\/\/innovitech.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4851\/revisions\/4852"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/innovitech.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovitech.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/innovitech.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/innovitech.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}