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ADVANCED AIR MOBILITY REALITY INDEX

A vibrant market

The Vertical Flight Society counts over 800 entrants in the AAM industry with new ones added on a weekly basis. OEMs have also attracted significant investment from venture capital, private equity, SPACs, automotive companies, legacy aerospace OEMs and tech companies. However, mixed with the excitement that welcomes every new industry, there is a significant amount of healthy skepticism.  With all these entrants and all the interest in the industry, how can companies, suppliers, investors easily understand what companies will come to lead the industry, and which ones will not be as successful as they hoped to be? How “real” is the commitment of a legacy company or a startup to deliver a product to market?

Introducing the AAM Reality Index (ARI)

The ARI is a rating tool, based on a proprietary formula that uses publicly available information as well as expert knowledge. It helps assess the industry entrants’ progress toward the delivery of a certified product at mass scale production. While at launch 14 OEMs were rated, the tool is periodically updated to include new entrants as well as any new information on existing entrants. The tool is un-biased and data-based. It is not meant as an endorsement or a critique of any specific company, but as a simple, easy-to-use guide to the complexities of the AAM industry.

How is the ARI calculated?

The ARI is based on five elements: the funding received by the company, the team that leads the company, the technology readiness of their vehicles, the certification progress of their vehicles, and the production readiness towards full scale manufacturing. 

How to read the ratings?

The formula scores each entrant on a 0 to 10 scale. We use one decimal point as well to distinguish entrants, as there is clustering at specific stages in the product lifecycle. A 0 on the ARI tool represents a company just considering the market with little to no financing. A 10 on the ARI tool represents a company with a commercial product that is produced in thousands of units per year. No company at present would be able to achieve a 10, as no one in Aerospace is capable to produce thousands of vehicles per year.

AAM REALITY INDEX

ARI BY USE CASE

AAM FUNDING

ENTRY INTO SERVICE

AAM ORDERS

AAM REALITY INDEX HISTORY

FAQs

What is the ARI?

The ARI describes the likelihood of an OEM certifying their aircraft, entering service and producing it in thousand of units per year.

What the ARI is not

The ARI does not rate which OEM is first in the progress to first flight, EIS or certification. 

What AAM OEMs are included?

The ARI takes into consideration OEMs developing eVTOL and eSTOL passenger aircraft, all-new eCTOL passenger aircraft with 6 or more seats and cargo vehicles with a payload of 500 lb. and above. 

What is the field with the arrows?

The field with the arrows shows the rating change for each listed OEM since the last release of the ARI:

  • Up arrow (↑): ARI rating increased
  • Down arrow (↓): ARI rating decreased
  • Sideways arrow (↔︎): no ARI rating change
  • New: OEM added in the current ARI release 

What is the Funding field?

The field reports the up-to-date cash funding in millions of USD received by the OEMs at the time of the index release publication. "Corporate backed" indicates internal funding. "Corporate backed*" indicates a mix of internal funding and outside investors. The same information is also available in graphical form in the AAM FUNDING infographic.

SPAC related funding, that appears only in the AAM FUNDING infographic, is OEM forecasted at closing of the transaction and it includes PIPE, cash held in trust and transaction costs.

What is the Use Case field?

The use case represents the mission the OEM foresees for the vehicles they are developing. We also group the OEMs by their main use case in the "ARI BY USE CASE" section.

What is the Vehicle Type field?

The field describes what type of  configuration the vehicle or vehicles adopt.

What is the Vehicle field?

It details the vehicles the OEM is developing.

What are the First Flight and EIS fields?

The first flight field reports the year in which the latest vehicle version has first flown. The EIS field reports the OEM announced entry into service year.

How often is the ARI updated?

The ARI is updated on a regular basis and it also appears, together with the infographics, in Aviation Week's AAM Report. We document the changes in blog posts that detail the updates. We also notify the industry through LinkedIn and Twitter. We advise our visitors to bookmark this page. 

VEHICLES

Hero Image Spotter's Guide & Dimensions

To make it easy to identify the AAM vehicles in the hero image, we have added an interactive image below. Hover over or touch the vehicle of interest to learn about the OEM, the aircraft name and dimensions (the dimensions in cruise flight are estimated in meters (m), starting from the publicly available data, unless provided by the OEM).

The Artist Behind the Images

All hero images on the website have been commissioned to talented aviation illustrations’ artist Marc Philipp Veenendaal (Instagram @marc_mpv). 

SMG Consulting does not accept responsibility for any decisions resulting from the use of the ARI, nor we accept responsibility for the correctness or factual nature of any information gathered from any source regarding any company or individual listed in the tool. SMG Consulting does not claim to have complete information or imply to have access to private or confidential information on any company, project or individual listed or identified.

© 2023 SMG Consulting LLC - All Rights Reserved

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