A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Senior Editor

Curt Epstein

With the first eVTOL aircraft nearing certification, how FBO operators are preparing for the integration of advanced air mobility (AAM) was a topic of discussion at the National Air Transportation Association’s Aviation Business Conference this week in Nashville.
“Some of the biggest challenges for eVTOL development right now are just the uncertainty of what this industry is going to look like,” said Torrie Meliska, manager of infrastructure partnership with airframer Wisk Aero. “Every company has their own idea of what their product is and where it fits, but there still aren’t really solidified regulations around the process of how to [type certify] an eVTOL aircraft or how to retrofit new precision landing aids onto a vertiport, or even what a vertiport should look like.”
“If you were to project out for 15 years, the new technology that we are all going to have to figure out how to incorporate, it’s going to be battery electric first,” added Lydon Sleeper, U.S. strategic policy lead with Joby Aviation. “That’s aircraft like ours, that’s charging systems. How are we going to integrate into the FBO community?”
Atlantic Aviation is one of the service providers already taking <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2024-10-21/atlantic-aviation-upgrade-nyc-heliport-evtols">measures</a> to upgrade its facilities to be ready for the eventual arrival of AAM. “From an infrastructure perspective, the message that we continually try to hit is to not overcomplicate and make this more than it really is, especially for entry-into-service operations next few years,” explained Eric Newman, the FBO chain’s v-p of commercial strategy and sustainability. “I think obviously more of the challenge is on the OEMs and operators of the aircraft to figure out what those safe and high levels of customer experience operations look like.” He described the infrastructure development as a relatively simple process to match the requirements for safe landings and utility upgrades.
“Slower, lower cadence operations is relatively straightforward,” Newman told the audience. “Where you start moving into more complex infrastructure systems is when you get to multiple chargers running in parallel and you need to move from kilowatts to megawatts of power, and then you start moving into these more sophisticated energy management systems and ensuring there is local resiliency for that.” He added that what that entails would be dependent upon the individual site's needs.
When asked if he believes FBOs can make money in the AAM sector, Newman answered affirmatively, noting that a major ramp-up in operations is the key. “What we need to do is figure out how to jump from now to five to 10 years from now [with] scaled operations and how to justify the investment in that interim.”
In terms of locations of vertiports, Wisk is eyeing undeveloped greenfield areas so “as to not disrupt the primary source of revenue for many FBOs,” said Meliska. “However—as AAM moves towards scale and there is more operational density—we do see that FBOs will likely start changing their business model a little bit, seeing that they can get some more profit from AAM than GA.”
Sleeper challenged the notion that the AAM segment will put undue strain on the air travel system. “I think it will require us to work together, it will require us to be creative, and it will require us to do some things different than we do today, but there is certainly capacity in the system for new entrants into the vertical lift industry,” he said. “Unlike competing for runway space, which is in super high demand in places all over the country and the world, I only need 50 feet to land.”
All three panelists agreed that the successful integration will involve a high degree of public education. “There is a huge piece of community acceptance and getting out and having these conversations, not just in the aviation industry but beyond, and ensuring the general public is aware of what is potentially coming and what that looks like,” concluded Newman.

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In this article

Atlantic Aviation

Wisk Aero

Joby Aviation

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