ASDL’s research for NASA related to the future possible demand for regional air mobility was recently featured in an article in Aviation Today. Funded by NASA’ Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate since 2020, the objective of the research is to measure the impact of advanced aircraft technologies and airport operations on the viability of regional air mobility. The scope of the study included the generation of regional aircraft models, regional flight operations models, airport energy models, and environmental impact assessments; the models were used to execute a number of parametric studies.

The lead ASDL researcher on the study is Research Engineer Dr. Cedric Justin. Based on the research conducted, the study identified how many long-distance travelers taking journeys greater than 100 miles would opt to fly if they had an option to fly to and from convenient regional airports near their intended origin or destination. In addition, information has flown out of this research into some recent ASDL Grand Challenges for NASA as graduate student teams have been able to leverage some of the tools developed as part of the NASA sponsored research in their projects.

This research was presented at several conferences, including the Congress of the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden in September. It has also been published in the journal Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies.