Through the pandemic, the Victorian government continued planning for an ‘advanced air mobility’ industry, with a transport agency proposing drones and electric aircraft could fly above railway lines.

Documents released to The Citizen under Freedom of Information laws reveal VicTrack, which owns the state’s public transport land and infrastructure, has proposed using the air space above its railway lines as air highways, with train stations and transport hubs used as landing sites.

“VicTrack owns and manages existing transport infrastructure assets and has defined air rights of up to 8500 ft [2.5km] above its rail corridor[s]. This uniquely positions the State to create ‘air super highways’ for electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles …” a briefing to treasurer and economic development minister Tim Pallas states.

The FoI documents released by the Department of Treasury and Finance also show a high-powered Victorian government committee met eight times throughout 2020 and 2021 to pursue a vision for ‘advanced air mobility’. The work continued amid COVID-19 restrictions, and despite Uber’s plans to launch a Melbourne electric helicopter taxi service being put on hold.

In 2021, the committee commissioned a cost-benefit analysis of the industry by consultant KPMG, meeting minutes show. Meanwhile VicTrack led a closed ‘request for interest’ process to seek industry input.

Organisations responding to VicTrack sought a range of support from government. Requests included public funding for infrastructure such as aircraft landing sites, payroll tax rebates, and a proposal for the state to purchase an aircraft fleet and lease it back to industry. Other asks included policy, public advocacy and planning support, according to a VicTrack presentation summarising the responses, also released under FoI laws.

Minister Pallas is expected to speak about Victoria’s plans for the industry at a summit on August 30.

Natasha Santha is a partner with consultant LEK specialising in future transport and is a member of a national consultative committee for emerging aviation technologies.

She said it makes sense to locate landing sites, called ‘vertiports’, near transport hubs like train stations as this would help get people to their final destination.

For Victoria to enable advanced air mobility, the sector would be looking for a signal from government that it is committed to the industry, as well as partnership in gaining public support to operate, Santha said.

“One of the other really hard nuts to crack in this AAM journey will be the permitting and development of vertiport sites.” This was another area where government could support the industry, she said.

According to the FoI documents obtained by The Citizen, Invest Victoria is the agency tasked with leading an ‘enablement strategy’ for advanced air mobility.

An Invest Victoria spokesperson said careful consideration is required “to support the safe, responsible and strategic deployment of new technology to ensure it addresses the needs and expectations of the community”.

The state government has identified opportunities in freight, healthcare, emergency response and regional transport, the spokesperson said.

VicTrack declined to comment about its plans.

According to the committee’s agendas and minutes released under FoI, the Advanced Aerial Mobility steering committee comprises deputy secretaries, chief executives and directors across more than 10 state government departments and authorities including treasury and finance, transport, premier and cabinet, jobs, planning and environment, VicTrack and Invest Victoria.

The steering group also grappled with other challenges such as risk mitigation, regulation, infrastructure and planning, community engagement, economic development and cyber security.

RMIT transport and land use planning expert Dr Chris De Gruyter said “the Victorian and Federal governments need to be on the front foot with regulating emerging aviation technologies in a way that is in line with community preferences and needs.”

He flagged the need for adequate community consultation and assessment of noise and visual pollution.

De Gruyter also questioned the evidence behind claims the industry could reduce road congestion. He said only two per cent of existing trips in Melbourne are longer than 50 kilometres and each aircraft would only carry around five people.

In order to ‘bust’ congestion, “we would literally need thousands of these aircraft in the sky at any given point in time, something that the community is unlikely to accept”, he said.

Santha said, “I think winning the social licence to operate is really critical, for the community to buy in to the service and agree to having vertiports and this new technology, in our cities and regional towns.”

She said the potential to create a new advanced air mobility industry for Victoria could provide benefits like supporting changing travel patterns, road infrastructure nearing capacity, improved connectivity with regional centres and working towards a pathway to decarbonise air travel.

Uber Elevate was eventually sold to Joby Elevation in December 2020. In September 2021 local helicopter operator Microflite and Eve Urban Air Mobility jointly announced a similar air taxi proposal for Melbourne.

On December 9 2021, the Victorian Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding regarding the development of advanced air mobility with the Federal infrastructure department, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and Airservices Australia.

While the MoU was announced by the parties at the time, its contents are “not publicly available at Victoria’s request”, according to meeting briefs released by the Federal infrastructure department under FoI.

A spokesperson for the Federal Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communication and the Arts said reasons for not making the MoU publicly available were “a matter for the Victorian Government”.

VicTrack documents released under FoI also note the agency’s telecommunication and optic fibre networks, abundant electricity supply, and transport hubs that could be used as vertiports, or landing sites.

Dr Reece Clothier, president of the industry body AAUS, said the advanced air mobility sector would be looking for state government to play a leadership role to bring together stakeholders, and consistent policy to promote industry growth and provide certainty for ongoing industry and Government investment.

“We see AAM as being a critical new area of growth for aviation, one that’ll deliver significant benefit for Australia.”

 

Petra Stock has a background in environmental planning, impact assessment and community engagement, including for transport projects. Prior to becoming a journalist, she was interested in understanding these aspects of the Uber Air proposal, which included using the Freedom of Information process as detailed in this ABC article. As a journalist she has covered recent developments in the Advanced Air Mobility industry for eVTOL.com.