Design and implementation of a vertiport network at the AMB and feasibility study as an addition to the TMB public transport network

Design and implementation of a vertiport network at the AMB and feasibility study as an addition to the TMB public transport network Document: Report Author: Raquel Rodr´ıguez Fern´andez Director/Co-director: Rub´en Mart´ınez Sevillano Degree: Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Technology Engineering Examination session: Spring 2024 Design and implementation of a vertiport as part of TMB Abstract This work aims to study the feasibility of implementing a network of vertiports in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, as well as the overall design of one of the infrastructures. All this in order to achieve the incorporation of air mobility as another method of public transport in the city. To this end, an analysis of the current situation of both urban air mobility and the existing transport network in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona has been carried out. In order to go deeper into the subject, the current eVTOL aircraft that would form part of this infrastructure have also been studied. Together with an analysis of the demand, the locations where the vertiports could be implemented were determined. As a result, El F`orum has been chosen as the most representative. Using the current regulations and the chosen design aircraft, a detailed design of the vertiport has been achieved. Done this, an analysis of economic viability and environmental impact is necessary in order to be able to draw conclusions. Throughout the project, the growing need for new transport methods is observed. Whether for logistical problems or to bring environmental improvements, the integration of a network of vertiports in the city of Barcelona is a viable solution. It is shown that the network created could meet the established demand and a vertiport could be implemented in the city, as well as being economically viable. This method of transport would bring economic improvements to the city in a short period of time, making eVTOLs and vertiports a solution for moving towards more sustainable mobility. I Design and implementation of a vertiport as part of TMB Resumen Este trabajo pretende estudiar la viabilidad de implementar una red de vertipuertos en el ´ Area Metropolitana de Barcelona, as´ı como el dise˜no en su totalidad de una de las infraestructuras. Todo ello para conseguir la incorporaci´on de la movilidad a´erea como un m´etodo m´as de transporte p´ublico de la ciudad. Para ello se ha realizado un an´alisis de la situaci´on actual tanto de la movilidad a´erea urbana como de la red de transportes que existe en el ´ Area Metropolitana de Barcelona. Para poder profundizar m´as en el tema, se han estudiado tambi´en las actuales aeronaves eVTOL que formar´ıan parte de esta infraestructura. Juntamente con un an´alisis de la demanda, se determinan las localizaciones en las que se podr´an implementar los vertipuertos. Una vez obtenidas, se ha escogido El F`orum como la m´as representativa. Haciendo uso de la actual normativa referente y la aeronave de dise˜no escogida, se ha conseguido un dise˜no detallado del vertipuerto. Hecho esto, un an´alisis de viabilidad econ´omica e impacto medioambiental es necesario para poder extraer conclusiones. A lo largo del proyecto se observa la necesidad creciente de nuevos m´etodos de transporte. Ya sea por problemas log´ısticos como por aportar mejoras medioambientales, la integraci´on de una red de vertipuertos a la ciudad de Barcelona es una soluci´on viable. Se demuestra que la red creada podr´ıa cumplir con la demanda establecida y un vertipuerto se podr´ıa implementar en la ciudad, adem´as de ser econ´omicamente viable. Este m´etodo de transporte aportar´ıa mejoras econ´omicas para la ciudad en un corto periodo de tiempo, haciendo de los eVTOL y vertipuertos una soluci´on para el avance hacia una movilidad m´as sostenible. II Design and implementation of a vertiport as part of TMB Contents 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Object................................................. 1 1.2 Scope ................................................. 1 1.3 Requirements............................................. 2 1.4 Rationale ............................................... 3 2 Background 4 2.1 UrbanAirMobility(UAM) ..................................... 4 2.1.1 Acceptance .......................................... 5 2.2 eVTOL ................................................ 7 2.2.1 Vectoredthrust........................................ 8 2.2.2 Lift+cruise ......................................... 9 2.2.3 Wingless(multicopter).................................... 10 2.2.4 Sharedfeatures........................................ 11 2.3 Vertiports............................................... 11 2.3.1 TypesofVertipots ...................................... 12 2.4 Regulations .............................................. 12 3 Barcelona Metropolitan Area 14 3.1 Demography ............................................. 14 3.2 Mobility................................................ 16 3.2.1 PublicTransport....................................... 17 3.2.2 Privatemobility ....................................... 18 4 Demand 21 4.1 Targetpublic ............................................. 21 4.2 Scenariosizing ............................................ 22 4.2.1 eVTOLSelection....................................... 23 4.3 Operationsizing ........................................... 24 4.4 Growthanalysis............................................ 25 III CONTENTS CONTENTS 4.4.1 CAGR............................................. 25 4.4.2 Econometricanalysis..................................... 25 4.4.3 Results ............................................ 27 5 Vertiports Network 28 5.1 Locationsselected .......................................... 28 5.2 Lines.................................................. 32 5.2.1 Line1............................................. 32 5.2.2 Line2............................................. 33 5.2.3 Line3............................................. 34 5.2.4 Line4............................................. 34 5.2.5 Line5............................................. 35 5.2.6 Line6............................................. 36 5.3 SelectedLine ............................................. 36 6 Network capacity 38 6.1 Linelogistics ............................................. 38 6.1.1 Frequency........................................... 38 6.1.2 Operationalcapacity..................................... 39 6.2 Networkfeasibility .......................................... 40 6.3 Locations ............................................... 41 6.3.1 Castelldefels.......................................... 41 6.3.2 AeroportdeBarcelona.................................... 43 6.3.3 Sants ............................................. 43 6.3.4 F`orum............................................. 44 6.3.5 Montgat............................................ 46 6.4 Selectedlocation ........................................... 47 7 Vertiport design 49 7.1 Capacity................................................ 49 7.2 Airside................................................. 50 7.2.1 Pads.............................................. 50 7.2.2 Stands............................................. 51 7.2.3 Taxiways, stands and pads distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 7.2.4 Visualaids .......................................... 54 7.2.5 Obstacleslimitation ..................................... 55 7.3 Groundside.............................................. 57 7.3.1 Terminalexterior....................................... 58 7.3.2 Inside Terminal: Passenger Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 7.3.3 Parking ............................................ 61 IV CONTENTS CONTENTS 7.3.4 Otherbuildings........................................ 61 7.4 Finalresult .............................................. 63 7.5 TMBincorporation.......................................... 65 8 Budget summary and economic feasibility study 67 8.1 Finalbudget ............................................. 67 8.1.1 Designandconstruction................................... 67 8.1.2 Vertiportoperation...................................... 68 8.1.3 Totalcosts .......................................... 70 8.2 Investment .............................................. 70 8.3 Revenues ............................................... 71 8.3.1 Flightgains.......................................... 71 8.3.2 Commercialgains ...................................... 72 8.3.3 Commercial places rent gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 8.3.4 Totalrevenues ........................................ 73 8.4 Results................................................. 73 9 Analysis and assessment of environmental and social implications 75 9.1 Airpollution ............................................. 75 9.2 Noisepollution ............................................ 77 9.3 Fossilfuels............................................... 77 10 Conclusions 79 V Design and implementation of a vertiport as part of TMB List of Figures 2.1 Attitude towards UAM of EU citizens. Extracted from [5] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.2 Perceived UAM Benefits. Extracted from [5] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.3 Concerns regarding delivery drones and air taxis. Extracted from [5] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.4 General attitude towards UAM. Extracted from [7] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.5 Lilium Jet. Extracted from [10] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.6 Joby VTOL. Extracted from [11] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.7 Hyundai S-A2. Extracted from [12] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.8 Voloregion. Extracted from [13] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 2.9 City Airbus. Extracted from [14] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 2.10 Volocity. Extracted from [15] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 2.11 Vertiports announcements. Extracted from [6] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 3.1 Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (in red). Extracted from [19] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 3.2 Evolution of population (2010-2022). Data extracted from [21] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 3.3 Population of Barcelona (1997-2023). Graphic extracted from [23] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 3.4 Public transport demand. Extracted from [24] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 3.5 Number of public transport trips (2019-2023). Extracted from [25] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 3.6 Most demanding roads of Barcelona. Data extracted from [26] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 3.7 Value of the congestion from each road. Own source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 3.8 Barcelona congested zones. Own source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 4.1 Selected eVTOL rates. Own source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 4.2 CAGRanalysis.Ownsource. .................................... 25 4.3 Econometric analysis from the different options of existing means of transport. Own source. . 26 4.4 Econometric analysis from the different options of existing means of transport starting from the calculated passengers value. Own source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 4.5 Econometric and CAGR analysis results. Own source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 5.1 Map of the metropolitan area and locations of vertiports. Own source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 5.2 Diagram of the set of vertiports composing Line 1. Own source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 5.3 Diagram of the set of vertiports composing Line 2. Own source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 VI LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF FIGURES 5.4 Diagram of the set of vertiports composing Line 3. Own source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 5.5 Diagram of the set of vertiports composing Line 4. Own source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 5.6 Diagram of the set of vertiports composing Line 5. Own source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 5.7 Diagram of the set of vertiports composing Line 6. Own source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 6.1 Diagram of the distance and time between each vertiport of line 1. Own source. . . . . . . . . 39 6.2 Example of a route of line 1. Own source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 6.3 Proposed location for Castelldefels vertiport. Source [32] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 6.4 Proposed location for the extensison of Castelldefels vertiport. Source [32]. . . . . . . . . . . 42 6.5 Proposed location for Aeroport de Barcelona vertiport. Source [32]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 6.6 Proposed location for Estaci´o de Sants vertiport. Source [32]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 6.7 First proposed location for F`orum vertiport. Source [32]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 6.8 Proposed location for F`orum vertiport. Source [32]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 6.9 Proposed location for Montgat vertiport. Source [32]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 7.1 Graphic capacity vs vertipads. Source [35]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 7.2 D-value for the Lilium Jet. Extracted from [10] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 7.3 Padelements.Ownsource. ..................................... 51 7.4 Standelements.Ownsource. .................................... 52 7.5 Taxiways and taxi routes elements. Own source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 7.6 Taxiways, pads and stands. Own source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 7.7 Windindicator.Ownsource. .................................... 55 7.8 Obstacle limitation surfaces. Extracted from [16] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 7.9 Vertical take-off and landing procedure volume. Extracted from [16] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 7.10 Obstacle-free volume. Extracted from [16] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 7.11Terminalform.Ownsource...................................... 58 7.12 Express parking area. Own source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 7.13Insideterminal.Ownsource. .................................... 59 7.14Passengerflow.Ownsource...................................... 60 7.15 Parking entrance. Own source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 7.16Controltower.Ownsource...................................... 62 7.17Firestation.Ownsource. ...................................... 62 7.18Terminalfront.Ownsource...................................... 63 7.19 Terminal entrance. Own source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 7.20 Control tower and fire station. Own source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 7.21 Vertiport frontal view. Own source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 7.22Vertiport.Ownsource......................................... 65 7.23 Vertiport map location. Own source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 7.24Busstation.Ownsource. ...................................... 66 7.25 Vertiport correspondences. Own source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 VII 1.4. RATIONALE CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION •Specific rules for airports and specifically vertiports if existing. •The 3D design and drawings will be done using CATIA V5. •Once the design part is finished, a specific software will be chosen for the renders. •L A T EX for the production of text documents. 1.4 Rationale Urban Aerial Mobility, UAM, is evolving with the recent design and presentation of different eVTOLs that, in addition to carrying material cargo, can also transport people. As a result, the problem of designing an area where these vehicles can take off and park arises, as well as how to organise the traffic of these vehicles. For this, the best option is to regulate them by means of a network of vertiports, which can bring improvements to the city, more specifically to the city of Barcelona. On a global level, the NASA AAM mission stands out [1], which investigates how this type of airport can coexist with conventional airports and heliports. This mission is working on the design of the airport, the aircraft and the airspace, together with the creation of all the regulations in this respect together with the FAA. It is foreseen that in the near future a wide network of vertiports can be implemented. The creation of land ports for the transport of people and their integration into Barcelona’s ATM network could bring a series of benefits that will be explained along the report, such as: •Decongestion of land traffic and improvement of urban mobility •Promotion of innovation. •Emission reduction. •Tourism promotion. For all the above reasons, it is believed that the implementation of this type of infrastructure would bring many benefits to the city of Barcelona and it is intended to study its viability. By doing so, it will be possible to see if it is really a project with a future in this city. 3 Design and implementation of a vertiport as part of TMB Chapter 2 Background Urban Aerial Mobility, UAM, is currently evolving with the design of different eVTOLs that transport people. As a result, the problem of where these vehicles will take off and park arises, as well as how to organise the traffic. The best option is to regulate them by means of a network of vertiports and a number of regulations, which brings improvements to the city. Before starting to develop the work, it is worth taking an overview of the current situation. This will help to understand what problems it is trying to solve and whether it is feasible. This section will discuss urban air mobility, the aircraft that comprise it and the corresponding airports, also known as vertiports. 2.1 Urban Air Mobility (UAM) The term “Advanced Air Mobility” (AAM) is used to refer to the new potential air vehicles can bring to the mobility of urban and peri-urban areas [2]. By 2030, it is predicted that 60% of the world’s population will live in urban areas. This substantial increase in population is expected to necessitate innovative mobility solutions as ground infrastructure becomes more congested [3]. This is why there is a need for the creation of urban air mobility (UAM). In recent years, the idea of air transport over short distances has become increasingly important. The closest idea is helicopter travel. In the United States, helicopter flights have a large volume of users. In cities like New York, people with a high standard of living use helicopters for urban travel [4]. This is not for all budgets and, at the same time, these aircraft produce a lot of noise pollution. Because of that reasons, is interesting to find a way to have urban air mobility with standardised fares and using green energy. A fundamental aspect of UAM is its efficient integration with other existing transport modes. Regulations are therefore being developed to create the necessary conditions for coordinating and integrating it with controlled aviation [2]. The creation of a new form of transport for people and its integration into the urban metropolitan network could bring a series of benefits, such as: 4 2.1. URBAN AIR MOBILITY (UAM) CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND • Decongestion of land traffic and improvement of urban mobility: By providing an alternative and fast transport option, this implementation could help to decongest the current traffic in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area. In the city of Barcelona every morning a huge quantity of car journeys are expected due to the working day, causing long queues on the main roads in the Metropolitan Area and in the city itself. • Increase in safety and security: Implementing a number of vehicles for this operations. Using VTOLs for emergencies, could improve the response time in critical situations. • Promotion of innovation: Allowing the creation of new jobs and the evolution of the city towards the technological future. The anticipated market size could potentially generate or support around 90,000 employment opportunities by the year 2030 [5]. • Emission reduction: By running on electric power, eVTOL vehicles contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases, thus improving air quality. • Tourism promotion: The implementation of a vertiport is a good strategy to boost tourism, especially covering areas as the airport, port or the downtown of Barcelona. 2.1.1 Acceptance In order to be able to implement a new mean of air transport, social acceptance is a key aspect. Between 2020 and 2021, a study was conducted by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) together with the consultancy McKinsey and Company to study the acceptance of UAM operations in the European Union (EU) [6]. EU citizens show a positive attitude and interest towards urban air mobility, see figure 2.1. Figure 2.1: Attitude towards UAM of EU citizens. Extracted from [5] The most expected benefits for the UAM are shown in the following image: 5 2.1. URBAN AIR MOBILITY (UAM) CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND Figure 2.2: Perceived UAM Benefits. Extracted from [5] These results show that people believe the most important benefits of UAM implementation will be improved emergency response time (71%), reduced road traffic (51%) and reduced gas emissions (48%). Equally, with the existence of benefits, there are also a number of disadvantages and concerns such as safety, environmental impact and noise pollution. Figure 2.3: Concerns regarding delivery drones and air taxis. Extracted from [5] Therefore, in order to increase the safety and confidence of society as a whole, a series of regulations are needed for greater control and approval of the aircraft. 6 2.2. EVTOL CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND Barcelona In the same acceptance study, apart from looking at the general European attitude towards urban air mobility, the acceptance of different European cities is shown. Barcelona is one of them. Figure 2.4: General attitude towards UAM. Extracted from [7] As can be seen in the image, Barcelona is one of the cities with the most positive attitude towards air mobility, second only to Milan. The 88% of the population would approve of initiating a move towards air mobility, an acceptance rate above of other European cities. Barcelona is therefore a good starting point to study whether or not the implementation of a network of vertiports in its Metropolitan Area is feasible. 2.2 eVTOL Since the emergence of the UAM concept, many companies have decided to invest in the urban aviation sector. In particular, in the creation of VTOL and eVTOL, which are the ideal method to implement this concept. A VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) is an aircraft that can perform take-off and landing manoeuvres vertically. Like current vehicles trend, it also has an electric power source way, the eVTOL. These aircraft use electric power to take off, fly and land. They are of major interest because of their potential to reduce pollutant gases. This type of aircraft is not considered to be the same as the existing helicopters, airships or hot air balloons. Although these aircraft also take off and land vertically, there are characteristics that differentiate them and for this reason they are called differently [8]. The main difference between an eVTOL and a helicopter lies in the number of engines and rotors. In order to 7 2.2. EVTOL CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND optimise performance and provide safety systems, eVTOLs have a large number of engines and rotors. They are designed with a redundancy of them. This ensures that, if one fails, the aircraft can continue to operate safely [9]. Currently, more than 200 eVTOL designs are being researched and, some of them, implemented. The most promising are from the companies Volocopter, Joby, Lilium or Airbus, all of which have advanced designs and prototypes, and even some of them are in the certification stage [6]. Vertical take-off and landing aircraft, according to the EASA [6], can be distinguished into three types according to their design. •Vectored thrust •Lift + cruise •Wingless (multicopter) 2.2.1 Vectored thrust On the Vectored thrust type of eVTOL, the same engines provide lift during the hover phase and then rotate to provide thrust during the cruise phase. During cruise phase, lift is generated by the wings. This layout is suitable for longer range flights as it is more efficient but also more complex than other concepts. Numerous benefits come from this type of aircraft. With this design, the hover and cruise phase is optimised. In addition, a higher cruise efficiency is achieved as the lift comes from the wings of the aircraft. This is why this type of VTOL can reach higher cruise speeds [6]. There are several eVTOL designs of this type currently under development. As close examples, we have the Lilium jet, figure 2.5, which has been tested in Europe, the Joby VTOL, figure 2.6, in the USA, and The Hyundai S-A2, see figure 2.7. Figure 2.5: Lilium Jet. Extracted from [10] 8 2.2. EVTOL CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND Figure 2.6: Joby VTOL. Extracted from [11] Figure 2.7: Hyundai S-A2. Extracted from [12] 2.2.2 Lift + cruise This design uses separate engines for hover and cruise phases of flight. The wings provide the necessary lift during the cruise phase. Having a wing configuration also brings benefits such as increased cruise speed over aircraft with only rotors. The Lift + cruise type of VTOL, is suitable for shorter ranges than thrust vectoring, but for longer distances than wingless flight. It is potentially easier to certify than thrust vectoring because of the separate propulsion systems [6]. Some examples of this technology is the eVTOL designed by Volocopter, Voloregion, figure 2.8, or the CityAirbus NextGen from the company Airbus, see figure 2.9. 9 2.2. EVTOL CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND Figure 2.8: Voloregion. Extracted from [13] Figure 2.9: City Airbus. Extracted from [14] 2.2.3 Wingless (multicopter) On the wingless type of eVTOL, the propulsion units are fixed and generate constant lift. This option offers the shortest range and is generally the simplest concept, as it avoids unnecessary moving parts (e.g. thrust vectors). This type of VTOL is the most similar to the drones we know. Movement is achieved by tilting the rotor blades, just like a helicopter. An example of this technology is the Volocity, figure 2.10, designed by Volocopter. 10 2.3. VERTIPORTS CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND Figure 2.10: Volocity. Extracted from [15] 2.2.4 Shared features As we have seen throughout this section, each type of eVTOL is different but has common characteristics. They are all committed to the comfort and safety of passengers and pilots. For this reason, quality materials are used, which are light but at the same time highly resistant and provide safety to the structure. As can be seen in the pictures, all of them have large windows. This helps the pilot to have a better spatial vision and to avoid unexpected obstacles. In addition to comfort, the aim is to create a safe aircraft. That is why these aircraft are equipped with a number of redundant propulsion systems in case of emergencies. In the event of an emergency, the aircraft can still be flown. Because of that, the reability of the aircraft is increased. A key feature of these aircraft is their capability to, as the name suggests, take off and land vertically. This helps them to operate in dense, urban environments and they do not require a large environment to operate, park and sleep in. 2.3 Vertiports An detailed infrastructure is required for the operation of eVTOL passenger transport. Is for that reason that has appeared the therm ‘Vertiport’. Vertiports enable takeoff and landing of air taxis, and will probably appear in different sizes and numbers in some cities, depending on expected traffic volumes [6]. At the moment, the vertiports designs are being developed through collaborations between infrastructures players and VTOL manufacturers. Europe is leading the market for passenger transport. In the image 2.11 some Vertiports announcements to be developed on Europe cities are shown. 11 2.4. REGULATIONS CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND Figure 2.11: Vertiports announcements. Extracted from [6] 2.3.1 Types of Vertipots In order to satisfy the traffic volumes of cities and integrate the UAM infrastructures, it can be established different vertiports sizes. •Vertipads: Places at some point of the city to locate the VTOLs. •Vertibases: Vertiports that act as connections between other vertiports in the urban area. • Vertihub: This type of Vertiport would act like a well-known airport. It would perform the same function as a vertibase but on a larger scale and with aircraft parking stands. In addition to these three types of vertiports, there is a second classification. The ground vertiports or those that are located at a certain height, either on the top of a building or on the roof of the vertiport itself. • Vertiport at ground level: Traditional base. This type of vertiport consists of a flat surface at ground level. Similar to a mix between an airport and a heliport. • High altitude vertiport on top of buildings: As its name indicates, as eVTOL are very light aircraft that do not need a large space for manoeuvring, it is easy to integrate them on top of buildings. Having a similar behaviour as an heliport According to EASA, a large city as can be Madrid or Barcelona, will need between 3-5 vertipads, 5-10 vertibases and 2-3 vertihubs for the proper functioning of the vertiport network to be created [6]. Also, two important factors for determining vertiport locations will be the accessibility, as well as electricity connections. 2.4 Regulations Urban air mobility is a new form of mobility that, like all the existing, needs a series of regulations. These should limit the design and use of the necessary infrastructures. At the European level, EASA is working on the regulations to be followed for the implementation of vertiports. 12 3.2. MOBILITY CHAPTER 3. BARCELONA METROPOLITAN AREA Demand Km ·h·lane (3.1) By computing, comparable values are now obtained. In the attachments document, section 2.1 contains information regarding the calculation of each of the necessary values. These can be observed in the following figure 3.7. Figure 3.7: Value of the congestion from each road. Own source. It can be seen from the graph that the most congested roads in the Barcelona segment are the C-58, the C-33, the C-32s and the C-17. This indicates that more vertiports should be located in the area connecting these roads. In addition, thanks to this data, it has been possible to produce a graph (figure 3.8) which differentiates between the northern, southern and intermediate roads in Barcelona. With this data, it is possible to achieve a better location of the vertiports throughout the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. 19 3.2. MOBILITY CHAPTER 3. BARCELONA METROPOLITAN AREA Figure 3.8: Barcelona congested zones. Own source. As the southern zone is the area of Baix Llobregat and its surroundings; the northern zone is Badalona and the nearby area. It is clear that the northern zone suffers the most congestion. For this reason, lines with more vertiports will be provided in this area. 20 Design and implementation of a vertiport as part of TMB Chapter 4 Demand Once the traffic data on Barcelona’s main roads and public transport has been analysed, a study of the demand that the proposed solution could attract is carried out. This will help to determine whether it is really a viable option and the numbers under which it would be a solution that could become important. 4.1 Target public As a first step, the target public for which this type of transport is intended must be known. In order to do so, the first step is to define the type of vertiport to be carried out and the type of aircraft that will use it. The proposed network of vertiport sites will be distributed throughout the Barcelona Metropolitan Area. Different vertiports will be placed along the locations that will be chosen later on. The main objective of this network of vertiports is to interconnect points of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area that: •Are not covered by an existing public transport route. •If public transport or road travel is available, it should be of extremely long duration. •Have heavy road congestion. •Points of interest, whether tourist, commercial or business. If the above-mentioned points are achieved through the vertiport network, different groups of people could be attracted. • People with their own vehicle: Connecting points that normally have high congestion by road would encourage people who can only make that journey to do so by air. • Public transport users: Citizens who do not have their own vehicle and/or whose public transport journeys are too long can find a solution in air mobility. • Taxi and VTC network users: Users of this type of service can find in VTOLs a way of transport similar to that provided by these services, avoiding the rush hour traffic that affects road vehicles. 21 4.2. SCENARIO SIZING CHAPTER 4. DEMAND • Entrepreneurs and executives: Business people tend to be time-poor and have to travel a lot for work. Having a network of shuttles that can connect places of interest such as the Barcelona trade fair, the port or the airport, would make this public choose it as the main solution to mobility. • Tourists and visitors: Being able to travel from the airport or port to the city centre by air transport can be an attractive service for tourists in Barcelona. 4.2 Scenario sizing With the target audience of the vertiport network determined, the next step is to dimension the operations to be carried out. Currently, as no vertiport network has been implemented, there are no experimental data that can be used to size the operations. For this reason, data on public transport demand and road travel will be used. These data have been chosen as these are the main target users of the vertiports. Using the ATM transport data [27], in order to determine the number of users of the vertiport network to be implemented, a series of estimates are made based on the total number of people in the metropolitan area. These are shown in the table 4.1. These filters have been chosen in order to determine more accurately which users might be interested in making use of these facilities. It is assumed that less than 50% are very much in favour of the use of VTOLs in Barcelona, as has been seen in the acceptance study [6]. Among the people who would not have a problem using it, it can be estimated filters of the current mobility. The majority of journeys are made during the hours of operation (7 a.m. to 9 p.m.) but less than 50% of journeys are made using public transport or private cars during these hours. A range of people who would be willing to make use of VTOLS could be those who lack confidence in the current means of transport. And, as a final filter, people whose journeys are inter-municipal and who have longer distances will prefer a faster option. Reason Percentage People very in favor of the use of VTOL in Barcelona 39% Movements in the period from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. 90.70% People traveling by public transport or private car 45.80% Lack of trust in : 31.40% Car 13% Taxi 21% Underground / Train 44% Trolley car 38% Bus 41% Intermunicipal trips 25.90% Total 1.32% Table 4.1: Filters and percentage weights applied to obtain the total passengers. 22 4.2. SCENARIO SIZING CHAPTER 4. DEMAND Knowing that the current value of the population in the Metropolitan Area is 3 , 304 , 275 the calculation is made with the total percentage of the table 4.1. It is obtained that the estimate of the total number of people who would make use of the vertiport network is 43,535 passengers per day. 4.2.1 eVTOL Selection In order to make a correct selection of the design VTOL for the subsequent dimensioning of the vertiport, a selection criterion has been used. It is based on the eVTOLs mentioned in section 2.2. These are: •Lilium jet •Joby VTOL •Hyundai S-A2 •Voloregion •City Airbus •Volocity In order to make a first choice, the Voloregion has been discarded as it is designed to fly autonomously. With reference to some of the characteristics of those preliminarily selected, each of these has been ordered from best to worst for each aircraft and a weighting of each characteristic has been carried out. The characteristics and weightings with which the different VTOLs have been evaluated are as follows: •Number of passengers (excluding pilot) [35%] •Autonomy [25%] •Wingspan Area [10%] •Speed [15%] •Cruising Altitude [5%] •Payload [10%] The VTOL capacity and the autonomy of the VTOL have been given more importance, as they are decisive parameters for the sizing of the operations and the creation of the lines. In the image 4.1 it can be seen each of the scores obtained for each aircraft. Likewise, in the attachments document section 2.2, you can find the development to reach this conclusion. 23 4.3. OPERATION SIZING CHAPTER 4. DEMAND Figure 4.1: Selected eVTOL rates. Own source. Therefore, the Lilium Jet has been chosen as the design aircraft for the implementation of the vertiport network and its design. The Lilium jet characteristics are extracted from Dr. P. Nathen report [28]. 4.3 Operation sizing Once it has been decided which aircraft will be chosen for the design, the calculation of total operations is carried out. The value is extracted in order to be able to make the dimensioning of the installations and lines. The starting pont is the aforementioned value, 43 , 535 passengers per day 1 would use the different VTOL lines. To obtain the daily operations, this value is divided by the total number of passengers the chosen VTOL can carry. In this case there are 6, therefore the number of operations of the entire network of vertiports will be 7 , 256 operations/day. This value is obtained considering that the aircraft are at their maximum capacity. This value is taken as a reference as it would be the most optimal for the creation of the lines of the network of airports as well as the design of the facilities. Therefore, the results obtained are shown in the following table: Passengers / day 43,535 Operations / day 7,256 Table 4.2: Number of passengers and operations per day 1 The number of passengers is independent of the number of times a person uses the service. That is, if a person uses a VTOL to get to and from a place, that person counts as two independent passengers. 24 4.4. GROWTH ANALYSIS CHAPTER 4. DEMAND 4.4 Growth analysis In order to complete the study and be able to foresee the number of passengers in the future, a growth analysis is carried out. This will be used to size the vertiport to the expected demand. Therefore, it is necessary to know the number of passengers for the design year, which is 2030, and its capacity in future years. In order to obtain these values, a CAGR analysis and an econometric analysis have been carried out. Currently, there is no data available for this sector, as it is not in operation. For this reason, the values have been obtained from the value of passengers/day obtained in the previous sections. 4.4.1 CAGR For the CAGR analysis, as mentioned above, the starting point is 43,535 passengers/day. According to the study on vertical airports carried out by Aertec [2], a general increase in the UAM sector of 11.33% is forecast for the next 10 years. Thanks to this value, it is possible to extrapolate the increase that will take place in the future. This analysis is very positive, so that very high values are obtained, which may not be entirely in line with reality. The result of this analysis can be seen in the figure below. Figure 4.2: CAGR analysis. Own source. 4.4.2 Econometric analysis As a second growth analysis, an econometric analysis has been performed. This is carried out thanks to the GDP forecasts of the sector together with the number of passengers according to the equation 4.1. ln(PAX) = β1ln(GDP) + β0(4.1) Since this is a new sector and data does not exists, an approximation by comparing it with the current transport system is done. The means of transport that have a number of passengers/day similar to that shown above in the table 4.2, are the following: 25 4.4. GROWTH ANALYSIS CHAPTER 4. DEMAND •Metropolitan buses: with a total of 36,326 daily passengers in 2023. •Intercity buses: with 60,623 daily passengers in 2023. •Tram: with 68,114 daily passengers on 2023. The data have been obtained from the mobility study of the Barcelona City Council [29]. With the historical data of passengers of these three options and the GDP of the transport sector in those years, the evolution in the next years of the different forms of transport is obtained. The GDP for the years 2024-2034 has been obtained by analyzing data from previous years. A linear regression was performed to obtain future data. This is because no GDP forecast has been found for this sector in Barcelona. In figure 4.3, the evolution of passengers for the different options is shown. Figure 4.3: Econometric analysis from the different options of existing means of transport. Own source. Once all these values are available, in order to compare them with the CAGR previously obtained, we must start from the same initial point. In order to do it, the equation that describes each econometric curve has been obtained. Once the equation is obtained, it is adapted to start from the defined value of 43,535 passengers/day. The final result can be seen in figure 4.4. 26 4.4. GROWTH ANALYSIS CHAPTER 4. DEMAND Figure 4.4: Econometric analysis from the different options of existing means of transport starting from the calculated passengers value. Own source. 4.4.3 Results Once the CAGR and the econometric analysis have been calculated separately, they are shown all together in order to compare them and draw conclusions. Figure 4.5 shows the graph with all the results obtained. Figure 4.5: Econometric and CAGR analysis results. Own source. It can be observed that the CAGR has a more positive trend, since it is taken into account that this is a new sector and has a very high growth value in the market. On the other hand, in the econometric analysis, data from means of transport that are already established and with very little margin for growth is shown. For this reason, the data obtained from the econometric analysis would be more correct if the vertiports had been in place for some time. The results obtained by the CAGR make more sense in this work since this is a new sector which is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. 27 Design and implementation of a vertiport as part of TMB Chapter 5 Vertiports Network As mentioned in Chapter 3, the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona is made up of 36 municipalities from which it will be chosen where to locate the different vertiports. Thanks to the demand study carried out in the same chapter, it is observed that the northern part of Barcelona, corresponding to the northern part of the Metropolitan Area, suffers more congestion on its roads. In view of this, and with the values of total operations, this chapter will seek a balance of the different factors for the creation of an optimal network of vertiports in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. 5.1 Locations selected As seen above, the northern part of the Metropolitan Area has a higher congestion ratio compared to the southern or central area (Figure 3.8). That is why there will be a higher concentration of vertiports in that area. Thanks to the study of highways, it can be seen that the most congested are: the C-33, the C-58, the C-17, the C-32s and B-23. These roads run through different municipalities of the Metropolitan Area, these are shown in the following table. 28 5.2. LINES CHAPTER 5. VERTIPORTS NETWORK Figure 5.5: Diagram of the set of vertiports composing Line 4. Own source. 5.2.5 Line 5 Finally, like the two previous lines that run around Barcelona’s Metropolitan Area, two lines have been created to cover the whole of the interior of Barcelona. Line 5 is formed from stations at: Av. Tibidabo, Spotify Camp Nou, Fira, Port of Barcelona and Glories. The locations to constitute these two lines have been chosen for their strategic positions for citizens and tourists. They have also been chosen for their importance in terms of business interest points, such as the Fira, the port and Glories. Figure 5.6: Diagram of the set of vertiports composing Line 5. Own source. 35 5.3. SELECTED LINE CHAPTER 5. VERTIPORTS NETWORK 5.2.6 Line 6 The second half of this rotating line is line 6. This consists of stations at the following locations: Glories, F`orum, Trinitat, Horta and Av. Tibidabo. As can be seen, these two lines form a circular line, the reason for dividing them into two different lines is to avoid delays. If an event were to happen at a station that would stop traffic, this would only affect half of the line, as the other half could continue to operate without interruption. Figure 5.7: Diagram of the set of vertiports composing Line 6. Own source. 5.3 Selected Line The most representative lines are those that are expected to be used by the largest number of people and therefore will be those that pass through places of interest that tend to have congestion, such as Fira, Sants or Barcelona airport. Following this idea, there are two lines that meet this requirement at two or more stations. These are Line 1 and Line 5. Line 1 runs along the coast of Barcelona and its Metropolitan Area, passing through places such as the city airport, Sants or F`orum, where a large number of people gather. Line 5 runs along the southern part of the city, which is the busiest as it has more places of interest. On this line we find stations such as Fira, the city port or the FCB stadium. In order to design one of the stations, the operational capacity of the line on which it is located must first be studied. Therefore, in order not to go beyond the initially established objectives, one of the two lines described above will be chosen. The one chosen will be line 1, as it covers more surface area as it covers the entire coast and links locations that are less well communicated, such as Castelldefels and Montgat. 36 5.3. SELECTED LINE CHAPTER 5. VERTIPORTS NETWORK In the following chapter, a study of the line’s capacity will be carried out to see if its implementation would be feasible, the optimum timetable it should follow and the locations where the possible landings could be located. 37 Design and implementation of a vertiport as part of TMB Chapter 6 Network capacity In the Chapter 5, line 1 was decided as the most representative. In this chapter, this line will be studied. It will look in detail at its capacity and the operations to be carried out at each of its stations. With this, an extrapolation can be made to see if the line as a whole is able to cope with the total passenger demand or, on the contrary, if it needs to be expanded. In addition, the optimal placement for each location will be discussed. Once all the details are in place, the design of the terminal at the chosen location will be initiated. 6.1 Line logistics The chosen line consist on the vertiports located at: Castelldefels, Aeroport de Barcelona, Estaci´o de Sants, F`orum and Montgat. This configuration manages to join two points of the Catalan coast, which the journey by car is often affected by long queues on the roads in the center of Barcelona. By applying this solution, this distance can be covered in less time. In addition, it makes stops in areas of large agglomerations such as the airport or Sants station. 6.1.1 Frequency The take-off frequency of the eVTOL at the beginning and end of the line will be affected by the chosen schedule and its peak hours. Initially, the departure times for both extremes of the line will be from 7h to 21h. This is due to the fact that more than 90% of the trips occur within this time slot. This has been seen previously in Chapter 4, section 4.2. Within this time range, there will be peak hours. These are considered to be the hours when most operations will be carried out, since they coincide with the working and school schedule of most people. Therefore, peak hours are considered to be from 7 to 9h and from 17 to 19h. In the case of Castelldefels and Montgat, there will be departures every 5 minutes during rush hour and every 10 minutes the rest of the hours. The procedure of the line will be as follows: For each departure and arrival, 2 minutes of maneuvering margin will be added. Once landed at the next vertiport, a margin of 2 minutes is given so that people who decide 38 6.1. LINE LOGISTICS CHAPTER 6. NETWORK CAPACITY to get off, can do so. At the end of the line and when all passengers have disembarked, the aircraft will go to the parking place to start the loading process until it can be used again. On a normal day, 109 departures will be made from Castelldefels and the same number from Montgat. Below will be explained the number of operations that will be carried out in each station of the line and how this result has been reached. 6.1.2 Operational capacity The operational capacity of the line will be given by the total capacity of each of the airports. For the creation of a complete schedule of departures and arrivals, a first step is to know the flight time between each of the stations. In the figure 6.1, we can see the distances between each of them. Between Castelldefels and the airport there is the same distance as between the airport and sants station, 10km. Between sants and the F`orum there are about 9km and between the last two stations, 8km. The VTOL chosen as design aircraft, we remember, is the Lilium Jet. It has a cruising speed of 280km/h. This means that it takes 3 minutes to get from one station to another and for the distances of 9 and 8 km, it takes approximately 2 minutes. This is also shown in the image above. Figure 6.1: Diagram of the distance and time between each vertiport of line 1. Own source. To these values, as already mentioned, 2 minutes are added for take-off and landing maneuvers. And, between arrival and departure operations, 2 minutes are added for the change of passengers. An example of a route is shown in the figure below. Figure 6.2: Example of a route of line 1. Own source. As shown in the figure 6.2, the first aircraft leaves Castelldefels at 7h. As the distance between this and the next stop is 10km, it will take 3 minutes to arrive in addition to the 4 minutes of maneuvers. Therefore at 7:07 we will have the aircraft at the Aeroport de Barcelona stop. The departure from the airport will be 2 minutes later, arriving at 7:16 at Sants station, which is at the same distance of 10km. At the F`orum stop, the aircraft will arrive at 7:24 as there is a shorter distance and it takes one minute less to get there. This way until it reach the last stop, Montgat. This stop is scheduled to be reached at 7:32. 39 6.2. NETWORK FEASIBILITY CHAPTER 6. NETWORK CAPACITY This reasoning was followed for each of the 109 beginning and end of the line departures. Once this has been done, the number of operations for each of the landing stations has been computed. It should be mentioned that these calculations are an approximation since in reality there may be schedule changes depending on the weather, aircraft breakdowns, or other unpredictable factors. The tables with the complete Line 1 schedule are shown on the attachments document section 2.3. On the other hand, the total operations of each vertiport are shown in the following table: Castelldefels Aeroport Sants F`orum Mongat 7-8h 18 37 37 37 18 8-9h 24 48 48 48 24 9-10h 15 31 31 31 15 10-11h 12 24 24 24 12 11-12h 12 24 24 24 12 12-13h 12 24 24 24 12 13-14h 12 24 24 24 12 14-15h 12 24 24 24 12 15-16h 12 24 24 24 12 16-17h 12 24 24 24 12 17-18h 21 41 41 41 21 18-19h 24 48 48 48 24 19-20h 15 31 31 31 15 20-21h 12 24 24 24 12 21h-22h 5 8 8 8 5 Total 218 436 436 436 218 Table 6.1: Daily operations by vertiport and time slot. Own source The table shows that the time slot with the highest number of operations is the rush hour from 8 to 9h and from 18 to 19h. The vertiports with the highest number of operations are those of Barcelona airport, Sants and F`orum. On the contrary, Castelldefels and Montgat vertiports have less operations as they are at the ends of the line. It should also be taken into account that the Sants, F`orum and Montgat vertiports share location with other lines and therefore will have more operations. Each of these, is part of two different lines. 6.2 Network feasibility In order to see if the network can meet the demand calculated in chapter 4, a series of approximations will be made to extract a correct value. The network consists of a total of 6 lines. Line 1 and 5 lines more. Two of them are formed by 4 locations. The other three are made up of 5 locations. For the latter, we can estimate a value exactly the same number 40 6.3. LOCATIONS CHAPTER 6. NETWORK CAPACITY of operations as those estimated for line 1. For the two remaining ones, approximately the same value can be estimated, but without the intermediate vertiport. Therefore, for the beginning and end of line we have that 218 operations will be carried out (approximately 24 at peak hour) and in the others 436 operations will be carried out (48 at peak hour). These values are an approximation, since for some lines, the distance between stations is greater and for others less. Therefore, on some lines there could be more operations and on others fewer. On average there are displacements like those of line 1 and, therefore, the values shown will be considered as correct for a good approximation. Following the reasoning, the total operations that would be carried out in a normal day in the network of vertiports would be 9,156. Comparing this value with the demand of this transport method, 7,256 daily operations, we see that the network created could support the calculated demand. In addition, there is a margin of almost 2,000 operations, so that, in case of growth in demand, expansion work would be carried out in the more distant future. 6.3 Locations In order to choose one of the locations for the design of the vertiport, a study of the different locations was carried out. For each of the stops of the line, the best option for the location of the vertiport has been searched. 6.3.1 Castelldefels Castelldefels is a residential municipality with several parks and areas of interest such as the Olympic Canal. It also has some industrial area and some free land. Near this location is found the Rodalies station of Castelldefels. For this reason, the location that has been found to implement the vertiport is as follows: 41 6.3. LOCATIONS CHAPTER 6. NETWORK CAPACITY Figure 6.3: Proposed location for Castelldefels vertiport. Source [32] . In case of an extension of the vertiport, it could be done on land close to the one shown. A second terminal could be built and operations could be diverted to it. This is the next one. Figure 6.4: Proposed location for the extensison of Castelldefels vertiport. Source [32]. 42 6.3. LOCATIONS CHAPTER 6. NETWORK CAPACITY 6.3.2 Aeroport de Barcelona The area where the airport is located is a large esplanade in El Prat de Llobregat that also houses industrial areas. Therefore, there is some area free of buildings. It is an area of these characteristics that has been chosen to locate the vertiport. Figure 6.5: Proposed location for Aeroport de Barcelona vertiport. Source [32]. As this is a large area of land, the expansion of the vertiport, if needed, would be carried out on the same place. 6.3.3 Sants What is proposed for this station is to implement the vertiport terminal in the existing building of the Sants train station itself. Currently, Sants station has a proposed expansion plan. Therefore, it would add to this expansion, the construction of a vertiport terminal in it. On the other hand, the air side would be located in Pla¸ca dels Pa¨ısos Catalans. This is located just in front of Sants station. The following image shows the location and the space it would occupy on the map. 43 6.3. LOCATIONS CHAPTER 6. NETWORK CAPACITY Figure 6.6: Proposed location for Estaci´o de Sants vertiport. Source [32]. In this case, the possibility of an extension is more complex. One of the options would be to extend the terminal so that it would occupy the whole of the area above the Sants station and add the take-off platforms on the roof of the terminal and station itself. Another option would be to add a vertiport in a nearby location in order to relieve the congestion of the vertiport. 6.3.4 F`orum In the location of the F`orum, the vertiport could be located in two different places. The first option would be to place it in the F`orum itself, as shown in the image 6.7. In this location several stages are placed when music festivals are held in the F`orum. These could change their location but without leaving the F`orum. There is plenty of space in this area. But, there is a problem that would arise when placing the vertiport in this location. The connection with other public transports in this area are not really good. The metro and tram stops are a couple of blocks away. 44 7.2. AIRSIDE CHAPTER 7. VERTIPORT DESIGN •TLOF: Touchdown and lift-off area. An area where the VTOL may touch down or take off. Each of the elements follow specific regulations including design measures and the marking format. For the design of the vertiport pads, these regulations have been followed and the values of the table 7.1 have been achieved: Diameter Final value FATO 1.5 D 21 m TLOF 0.83 D 11.62 m SA 0.25 D 3.5 m Table 7.1: Pad dimensions. In addition to these three main measures, more factors must be taken into account. The touchdown positioning circle mark (TDPC marking) consist on a yellow circle which has arrays of segmented point source lightning (ASPSL). Then, the green lights, arranged in accordance with the regulations, delimit the FATO and the TLOF. Finally, each of the pads have their own FATO identification marking. Six, in the case of this vertiport. They consist on a blue circle with the letter V (which identify the vertiport) and the number of the pad next to it. These six pads are separated by 60 metres as indicated in the regulations. In the figure 7.3 are shown each of these elements. Figure 7.3: Pad elements. Own source. 7.2.2 Stands The VTOL stand is an area that is intended to accommodate an VTOL for loading or unloading passengers or cargo and charging or parking the aircraft. It is composed by the following parts: •Stand: As defined before, is the area for the interchange of passengers or charging. 51 7.2. AIRSIDE CHAPTER 7. VERTIPORT DESIGN • TDPM: The touchdown positioning marking is a marking that provide visual cues for posicioning the VTOL. • PA: Protected area. This area should be free of obstacles and be resistant to the downwash effects (when solid). The figure 7.4, shows the distribution of each of these parts. Figure 7.4: Stand elements. Own source. As for the pads, the measures and their markings are defined by regulations. The values of the table 7.2, show the dimensions of the stands. Diameter Final value Stand 1.2 D 16.8 m TDPM 0.5 D 7 m PA 0.4 D 5.6 m Table 7.2: Stand dimensions. The distribution of the stands has been determined around the terminal. It has been decided to implement a total of 10 stands. This is because, taking into account the autonomy of the aircraft and the number of operations performed on a line, only 10 stands would be needed at each start of the line. This would allow to load the aircraft to be used again. Since the chosen location does not belong to any start of line, it was decided to implement 5 stands near the terminal in order to be able to carry out the exchange of passengers. As in this case, this location belongs to two different lines, this number is doubled, being 10 the total number of stands to be implemented. The distribution will be shown on the next section, together with the pad and taxiways distribution. 52 7.2. AIRSIDE CHAPTER 7. VERTIPORT DESIGN 7.2.3 Taxiways, stands and pads distribution Taxiways are defined paths intended for the ground movement of the VTOL at the vertiport. Taxiways, together with a safety area, are called taxi routes. Like the other elements, taxiways and taxi routes have a set of regulations that delimit them. The following table shows how each of the values has been achieved. Distance Final value Taxiway 2 UCW 3.4 m Taxi route 1.5LOW 20.9 m Table 7.3: Taxiways and taxi routes dimensions. UCW stands for undercarriage width and LOW stands for largest overall width. These values are obtained from the aircraft specifications [28]. In the figure 7.5 can be observed the different elements. Figure 7.5: Taxiways and taxi routes elements. Own source. The ends of the taxiway are delimited by a double yellow line. Likewise, the centre of the taxiway is marked with a single yellow line. In addition to the markings, the centre line and the ends of the taxi routes are illuminated. All these elements follow a series of specifications shown in the regulations. The lighting, in particular, follows the same regulations as the taxiways of a conventional airport. Finally, you can see the overall configuration of the taxiways together with the pads and stands. The stands have been distributed around the terminal to facilitate the exchange of passengers. Then, the pads have been distributed uniformly so that there is a minimum distance of 60 m between each one of them, as required by the regulations. All this following the aesthetics of the rest of the vertiport. This is shown on the figure 7.6. 53 7.2. AIRSIDE CHAPTER 7. VERTIPORT DESIGN Figure 7.6: Taxiways, pads and stands. Own source. 7.2.4 Visual aids Visual aids are of great importance for the aircraft pilot in order to be able to perform the relevant manoeuvres. For this reason, ground markings and lights are of great importance. The latter, although not operating at night, are included as it gets dark earlier in the winter months. In addition to these two main elements, there are two more. The wind indicator and the vertiport identification beacon. The first, is located at a point close to the FATO, figure 7.7. It indicates the wind speed and direction when the VTOL is about to take off or land. On the other hand, the vertiport beacon. This is a long distance light indicating the location of the landing site. 54 7.2. AIRSIDE CHAPTER 7. VERTIPORT DESIGN Figure 7.7: Wind indicator. Own source. 7.2.5 Obstacles limitation One of the most important aspects that must be taken into account in the design of the vertiport is the obstacle identification and limitation. In order for the VTOL to operate safely, Obstacle Limitation Surfaces (OLS) and Obstacle Free Volume (OFV) are required. These are discussed below. Obstacle limitation surfaces In order to safeguard the aircraft from possible obstacles during take-off and landing, a series of obstacle limitation surfaces are applied. These are listed below and detailed its dimensions at the section PTS VPT-DSN of the regulations [16]. • Approach surface: The purpose of this area is to protect the aircraft during the final approach phase to the FATO. • Transitional Surface: The purpose of this area is to provide a safety area for the aircraft’s vertical procedures including lateral transit. It limits where there can be no obstacles. • Take-off climb surface: The purpose of the take-off climb surface is to protect the VTOL on the take-off and during climb-out. These three surfaces, taken together, are as follows. 55 7.2. AIRSIDE CHAPTER 7. VERTIPORT DESIGN Figure 7.8: Obstacle limitation surfaces. Extracted from [16] . Obstacle-free volume The objective of the obstacle-free volume is to provide protection above the vertiports to facilitate their introduction in congested areas.This form is derived from the vertical take-off and landing procedure volume. For its definition, a series of generic parameters are determined. These are the ones shown on the following table. Parameter Description Minimum / Maximum h1Low hover height - h2High hover height ≥h1 TOwidth Width at h2≤5D TOfront Front distance at h2≤5D TOback Back distance at h2≤5D FAT Owidth Width of the FATO ≥1.5D FAT Ofront Front distance on FATO ≥0.75D FAT Oback Back distance on FATO ≥0.75D θapp Slope of approach surface ≥4.5% θdep Slope of departure surface ≥4.5% Table 7.4: Obstacle free-volume parameters With all these parameters and the D-value of the design aircraft, the vertical take-off and landing procedure volume can be obtained. It will take the following form. 56 7.3. GROUND SIDE CHAPTER 7. VERTIPORT DESIGN Figure 7.9: Vertical take-off and landing procedure volume. Extracted from [16] . In addition, to this volume, a safety area is added, thus the OFV is obtained. Figure 7.10: Obstacle-free volume. Extracted from [16] . 7.3 Ground side Once the air side has been determined, the design of the ground side is carried out. In the following sections, the design of the terminal will be seen, both inside and outside, and other buildings such as the fire station or the control tower. The terminal is the place where the flow of passengers takes place. It will be the visible face of the new vertiport. For this reason, it must have an innovative, identifying and practical design. Both its exterior and interior design will be explained. 57 7.3. GROUND SIDE CHAPTER 7. VERTIPORT DESIGN 7.3.1 Terminal exterior The terminal building will have to be able to accommodate the 576 passengers at peak hour who will use this new form of transport. According to what was learned in the subject of airport engineering, when designing a terminal, the first thing to into account is the total building area. For the total area of the Terminal, as the flights are urban, the area for each passenger at peak hour will be of 15 m2/php . At peak hour, this vertiport will do 96 operations which means a total of 576 passengers. This implies the need of 8,640 m2of terminal. As shown on chapter 6 section 6.3, the location selected has approximately a total of 66,450 m2 , meaning that the terminal building can be incorporated. It was decided to make the design with a single floor. This will facilitate the passengers flow within the terminal, avoiding possible errors. How it is organised inside the terminal will be explained in detail later on. Taking these measures into account, it has been decided to make a design with an identifying character. As this would be the first terminal to be incorporated into the network of terminals in Barcelona, it has been thought that the design of the terminal should be related to the city. That is why it has been designed so that its shape, seen from the air, coincides with a typical tile of the city of Barcelona, see figure 7.11. Each one of the petals will correspond to a specific part of the vertiport. One of them will have the entrance, another one the exit and the two closest to the runways, for the passengers waiting. Of the latter, each petal will be assigned to one of the lines. Around them will be distributed the 10 stands for aircraft parking, which, as initially planned, will be 5 for each of the airlines. Figure 7.11: Terminal form. Own source. Taking advantage of the fact that Barcelona has good climate, the central area has been designed as an area through which light can enter. The intention is that this area will serve as a commercial zone with a small 58 7.3. GROUND SIDE CHAPTER 7. VERTIPORT DESIGN park in it. Outside the terminal, you will find an arrival area for passengers arriving by private vehicle or taxi. This is an express parking area, for a maximum of 15 minutes. It is shown on the following figure. Figure 7.12: Express parking area. Own source. 7.3.2 Inside Terminal: Passenger Flow The interior has 5 well-distinguished zones for the proper flow of passengers. In the image 7.13 you can see each one of them. Figure 7.13: Inside terminal. Own source. To explain it, it will be done as a passenger would find it. On arrival, the passenger should enter through the right side of the terminal. This area of the building is reserved for this purpose only. This is where the information area and information panels are located. The next place the passenger should go to is the ticket validation area. As this is a new form of public transport, it will have associated tickets that users will have 59 7.3. GROUND SIDE CHAPTER 7. VERTIPORT DESIGN to validate in the same way as on the metro. Once they have passed, they will go to the security control area. Here they will check if the luggage is not suspicious. The number of security controls has been extracted according to the IATA manual, [36]. For this terminal, 3 security controls will be required, although 1 more will be added as a security margin. In total there will be 4 security checkpoints. After these two checks, passengers go to the shopping area where they can have a coffee or make a purchase before going to the waiting area. These are arranged in such a way that the waiting area for line 1 is on the right and line 6 on the left. Therefore, there are separate areas for each of the zones. This avoids possible confusion for passengers. At boarding time, the passenger will board the aircraft indicated on the boarding panel. It will indicate in which of the five different stands the aircraft is located. All this path is described by the orange lines from the figure 7.14. Figure 7.14: Passenger flow. Own source. Once the passenger lands, they will follow the white line path shown on figure 7.14. They will go to the same waiting area as the line that is being used. To exit the terminal, the passenger will have to pass through the commercial area again and go to the building petal on the left. This is reserved only for the outbound flow of passengers of both lines. In this area, the passenger will have to pass again through a ticket validation area and exit to the outside of the building. 60 Design and implementation of a vertiport as part of TMB Chapter 8 Budget summary and economic feasibility study To find out if the vertiport design and implementation is economically viable, a feasibility study is carried out. This study analyzes the expenses involved in the creation and maintenance of the project as well as the profits that could be obtained. The financial projections that will be obtained over the years will be analyzed. Also, an analysis of the possible investors and stakeholders that the project may have will be carried out. As air mobility is a new sector, there is not much information on the costs involved in its operation. Therefore, an exhaustive analysis of costs and revenues would belong to a completely different project and would be outside the scope of this one. It is for this reason that a superficial analysis of the costs that would be incurred in the creation and the operation of the vertiport has been carried out in this project. The costs relating to the design and construction of the vertiport are explained in the Budget document and therefore in this chapter, a brief reminder of the results obtained will be given. 8.1 Final budget The final budget is obtained after a detailed analysis of the costs of each of the phases of this project. 8.1.1 Design and construction As shown in the budget document, the costs related to the design and construction of the vertiport will have a one-time fixed expenditure character and they are quite high. This is due to the fact that once the construction has been completed, no further costs related to this matter are foreseen. The following table summarises the total of these costs. 67 8.1. FINAL BUDGET CHAPTER 8. BUDGET SUMMARY AND ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY STUDY One-time fixed cost 17.575.690 € Table 8.1: Final budget: one-time fixed costs In addition to this one-time expense, a different type of cost will appear once the vertiport is operational. 8.1.2 Vertiport operation Once the design phase has been completed and the vertiport has been built, it is put into operation. A number of fixed annual costs are associated with this. These costs are mainly human resources and maintenance. Human resources For the correct operation of the vertiport, different human resources costs are associated with it. In order for everything to run smoothly, many different jobs must be created. The main ones are shown in the table 8.2. Quantity €/Hour Hours/Week Weeks Total Security Control 8 15 40 48 230.400 € Terminal Maintenance 10 15 40 48 288.000 € Comercials 2 15 40 48 57.600 € Administrative 6 15 40 48 172.800 € Firefighters 6 30 40 48 345.600 € Air traffic controlers 6 48 40 48 552.960 € VTOL pilots 20 48 40 48 1.843.200 € Air area maintenance 12 15 40 48 345.600 € Parking security 4 15 40 48 115.200 € Terminal security 6 15 40 48 172.800 € Manager 2 48 40 48 184.320 € 4.308.480 € Table 8.2: Vertiport operation phase: human resources expenses These human resources are counted as full-time workers, meaning an 8-hour working day. Because the vertiport operates from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., there will be two shifts. This has been taken into account when quantifying the number of workers. As for salaries, they have been determined with reference to the ones of airport workers [37]. Maintenance costs As fixed annual expenses, we also find the maintenance costs. These range from aircraft maintenance to the cost of water consumption. Each of these expenses and the way they have been calculated will be explained in the following list. Likewise, the breakdown and total of these expenses is shown in the table below 8.3. 68 8.1. FINAL BUDGET CHAPTER 8. BUDGET SUMMARY AND ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY STUDY • Legal consultancy: A legal consultancy is contracted to have the administrative part of the vertiport in order. The costs approximation stands for the ones in Spain [38]. • eVTOL electricity consumption: The vertiport operates with electric aircraft. Therefore, it will have to have an electric power network to be able to charge the aircraft in case of need. In the first instance, the network of vertiports has been designed so that the charging areas of these are located at the ends of the line. Nevertheless, it is necessary to be prepared in case of inconvenience. For this reason, a quick calculation of the cost of loading for 10 aircraft (number of stands available) is made. On average in Spain, the cost of electricity is around 0.15€/kWh [39]. Taking into account also that the Lilium Jet consumes 5.7kWh in a 7km route [40], and the flight hours that an aircraft would have in one of the lines, we obtain the electricity cost necessary to charge the aircraft in a year. • Aircraft maintenance: Regarding this issue, Uber estimates that the cost of aircraft maintenance for each hour flown is 112€, [41]. With this value, the flight hours of an aircraft and the total number of aircraft that will be used in a line, it is possible to have an approximation of the cost of maintenance of the eVTOL for each of the lines. It must be taken into account that the eVTOL of a line will operate on average in 5 different stations. For this reason, this cost is distributed among the total number of stations of the line on which it operates. The payment of this expense will be made to the Lilium company, which will be in charge of the maintenance of the aircraft. • Water consumption: The cost of water consumption at the vertiport is an approximation. It is estimated that 12L of water will be consumed for each person using the vertiport 1 . In addition to this, there is the minimum of 500L that the fire station must have in case of emergency. Taking this into account, approximately 2000 dm3 of water would be consumed per month. Looking at the water consumption tariff of Barcelona, [42], the price per dm3 of water per month is 3€. Performing the calculation, this gives the value shown in the table 8.3. • Terminal electricity: In this case, only the electricity required for the operation of the terminal’s lighting and electrical equipment, including runway lighting, is taken into account. Currently, a total of 800kW is consumed in an industrial building, according to Total Energies [43]. This could be a good approximation of the electricity consumption of the terminal. To get the total expenses, this consumption is multiplied by the cost per kW in Spain (the 0.15€mentioned above) and by the total number of days in a year. To all these factors in the list, 20% of the total is added. This is done as a security measure. The idea is to have expenses accounted for in case of emergency. 1This translates into two visits to the toilet. 69 8.2. INVESTMENT CHAPTER 8. BUDGET SUMMARY AND ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY STUDY Reason Cost Legal consultancy 3.000 € eVTOL electricity consumption 43.690 € Aircraft mantainance 2.289.280 € Water consumption 67.843 € Terminal electricity 43.800 € Margin (20%) 489.523 € Total 2.937.136 € Table 8.3: Vertiport operation phase: maintenance expenses Vertiport operation total expenses Finally, the total expenses accumulated over the course of a year are shown. The following table shows a breakdown by human resources expenses and maintenance expenses together with the total of the sum of these. Human resources 4.308.480 € Maintenance costs 2.937.136 € Safety margin (15%) 1.086.842 € Total 8.332.458 € Table 8.4: Vertiport operation phase: total expenses 8.1.3 Total costs After looking at the costs of each of the project phases, the total initial expenditure can be obtained. This is shown in the following table. The one-time fixed costs on one hand, and the annual costs of the vertiport on the other hand. One-time costs 17.575.690 € Annual costs 8.332.458 € Table 8.5: Final budget: One-time and annual costs As can be seen, this is a large amount of money, but before drawing conclusions, the cash flow should be analysed to see if the project can make a profit. 8.2 Investment Improving the public transport network, and with it the connections to the city and its surroundings, is an objective for any country. For this reason, large amounts of money are allocated for the creation of new 70 8.3. REVENUES CHAPTER 8. BUDGET SUMMARY AND ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY STUDY communications or the improvement of existing ones. The creation of a network of vertiports as a new method of sustainable transport could raise the interest of different investors. These could be the following: • State and regional governments: Improving the quality of life and thus helping to reduce pollution in our cities is a matter of interest for state and regional organizations. Therefore, implementing a new and sustainable public transport network could help to decongest the pollution-filled roads. For these reasons, the government would be the main investor. The vertiport network would be subject to its control as it is the public transport. • eVTOL Manufacturers: Companies developing eVTOL technology would be interested in participating in the development of vertiports. This is because, if they are part of the investors, their aircraft will be the ones flying in the vertiports. The design aircraft of the F`orum vertiport is the Lilium jet. For this reason one of the potential investors is the German company Lilium. Lilium is currently in collaboration with the company Ferrovial for the future construction of vertiports in the USA, UK and Spain. This opens the door for this company to invest in this project. • Private investors: Other companies, such as Ferrovial, which are dedicated to the construction of infrastructures, could be interested in the creation of this type of infrastructure. Individuals or investment groups with an interest in the world of aviation or sustainable transport could also collaborate with the project. As can be seen, many different types of investors could be willing to collaborate with the project. For that reason the initial investment of almost 25 million euros will come from these investors mentioned above. Each of them will provide a proportional part with their involvement in the project. In this case, the highest investment will come from the Spanish government. 8.3 Revenues The profits that can be obtained at the F`orum’s vertiport come from three different sources. On one hand, there are the profits from the price of flights, on the other hand, the consumption of customers in the commercial area and, finally, the rental of commercial places. These revenues, as the vertiport operation costs, are annual. Each of these is explained in detail below. 8.3.1 Flight gains The main form of profit for the vertiport is the sale of tickets to use this type of transport. Currently, there is no reference in ticket prices to use a VTOL. However, there are approximations from different experts. According to an article that deals with the price of flying a VTOL [44], the German company Lilium estimates a ticket cost of 2.3$per passenger/ mile 2 . This translates to a price of 1.4€per passenger and km. If the price of a passenger traveling only once from start to end of the line is calculated, it is obtained that for line 1 (37km) the cost is 52.9 €and 21.4 €for line 6 (15km). These prices are really exorbitant. If the network 2It is estimated that a dollar costs the same as an euro. 71 8.3. REVENUES CHAPTER 8. BUDGET SUMMARY AND ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY STUDY of vertiports is to be incorporated into public transport, prices must be more affordable for the citizens. It is for this reason that the price of line 1 has been reduced to 0.5€/km and to 1€/km for line 6. For the calculation of income, it has also been taken into account that many passengers will not make the entire journey. That is why it has been considered that on average, users will make only half of the km available on the line. This measure is taken in order to be cautious when estimating profits. Therefore, the calculation of the benefits of each of the lines during one year has been made according to the following expression. Flight gains =Departures/day ·Pax/trip ·Km/trip ·Trip price ·Days in a year (8.1) Therefore, for each of the lines: Line 1 flight gains = 436 ·6·18.5·0.5·365 = 8.832.270 €(8.2) Line 6 flight gains = 436 ·6·7.5·1·365 = 7.161.300 €(8.3) Finally, the total revenues from the ticket price for the flights are shown in the following table. Line 1 annual revenues 8.832.270 € Line 6 annual revenues 7.161.300 € 15.993.570 € Table 8.6: Revenues: Total flight gains during a year 8.3.2 Commercial gains In the section 7.3.2 of the chapter 7, each of the areas of the terminal of the vertiport are shown. One of these zones is destined to the commercial area. In this area, among other things, there will be a commercial location that will belong to the vertiport terminal itself. It will be assumed that on average, each passenger will spend about 1€in the commercial area. In addition, in order not to contemplate exorbitantly positive profits, it is also assumed that, in fact, the number of passengers who will consume in the stores during one year will be a 20% of the total. Therefore, the calculation that has been carried out is as follows: Commercial gains = 20%(Departures/day ·P ax/trip ·€/P ax ·Days in a year) = 20%(872 ·6·1·365) = 381.936 € (8.4) Therefore, the total earnings from the commercial area will be: 72 8.4. RESULTS CHAPTER 8. BUDGET SUMMARY AND ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY STUDY Commercial gains (annual) 381.936 € Table 8.7: Revenues: annual commercial gains 8.3.3 Commercial places rent gain In addition to the commercial profits, a total of 4 commercial premises will be available for rent to other businesses in the area. This will mean an extra monthly income. Following AENA’s pricing on the rental of premises at the main airports in Spain [45], such as Barcelona-El Prat, it is known that the price is 25.4 €per square meter. Each of the premises that will be available at the airport will have a minimum of 10 m2 . With all these values it is possible to calculate the profit that will be obtained throughout the year thanks to the rent of these premises. This result is shown in the following table. Renting gains (annual) 12.192 € Table 8.8: Revenues: annual renting gains 8.3.4 Total revenues In total, the profits to be obtained from the vertiport will be given by the factors explained above. The price of the flight ticket, the profits from the commercial area and the profits from the rental of premises. All of them add up to the total shown in the following table. Flight gains 15.993.570 € Commercial gains 381.936 € Renting gains 12.192 € Total annual revenues 16.387.698 € Table 8.9: Total annual revenues 8.4 Results Once the total budget and the profits of the project are known, the economic viability of the project is studied. For this purpose, the first 5 years of the project are analyzed and the time in which the initial investment will be recovered is obtained. In the first instance, the design and construction costs are obtained which, together with the maintenance costs of the first year, will be the investment to be recovered. The value is shown in the table 8.5. As of the first year of operation, the vertiport will have only the maintenance costs. These will be considered the same during the years that have been studied. From this first year of operation, the revenues of the vertiport will also be added. The same value of income is considered for the first 5 years since it is a very 73 8.4. RESULTS CHAPTER 8. BUDGET SUMMARY AND ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY STUDY short period of time in which no increase in the consumption of these facilities will be noticed. These are shown in the table 8.9. Considering each of the expenses and revenues that the vertiport will have, a table with the cash flow for these 5 years can be obtained. The table with the details of the calculations will be shown in the attachments document section 2.4. Years Cash Flow 0-25.908.149 € 1-17.852.909 € 2-9.797.669 € 3-1.742.429 € 4 6.312.810 € 5 14.368.050 € Table 8.10: Cash flow for 5 years vertiport operation. As can be seen in the table, the cash flow for the first four years of operation of the vertiport is negative. This is due to the fact that the initial investment is very high. From the fourth year onwards, a profit begins to be observed, which increases throughout the period studied. This project is economically viable since in a short period of time the investment is recovered and profits are obtained. It should also be noted that from the beginning, this method of transport is to be included in TMB, making it one more public transport. For this reason it is not so important the profit margin but that it is enough to cover the annual expenses. 74 Design and implementation of a vertiport as part of TMB Chapter 9 Analysis and assessment of environmental and social implications Current forms of transport are a source of both noise and air pollution. This is a problem of which the public is becoming increasingly aware and for which a solution is being searched for. For this reason, the authorities want to promote sustainable and quality transport. The creation of a network of airports for electric aircrafts (eVTOLs) fits in with these requirements. This was one of the main objectives of the project. To provide the city of Barcelona with a new method of sustainable transport. With this project we can contribute to reduce 3 critical aspects of pollution. These are air pollution, noise pollution and fossil fuel consumption. 9.1 Air pollution Barcelona has a high density of vehicles per km2 and is among the 5 most polluted European cities. Approximately 50% of the pollution in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area comes from motorised traffic [46]. This can have permanent effects on the health of the inhabitants. According to studies by the Barcelona Public Health Agency (ASPB), [47], air pollution causes more than 350 premature deaths per year. It also increases the risk of suffering from cardiovascular and/or respiratory diseases. Exposure to nitrogen dioxide or small suspended particles are the main cause of these diseases. These are the polluting factors that come from motor vehicles. The following figure shows the percentage of the population of Barcelona exposed to different levels of nitrogen dioxide. 75 9.1. AIR POLLUTION CHAPTER 9. ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS Figure 9.1: Percentage of the population of Barcelona exposed to different levels of nitrogen dioxide. Extracted from [48]. As can be seen, Barcelona registers very high air pollution values. The Eixample district is the most affected of all. In addition to nitrogen dioxide and small particles, CO2 pollution is also produced on a large scale by transport. This type of pollution specifically affects climate change, causing higher temperatures in the world year after year. The following picture shows the different types of pollution that arise from some types of transport. Figure 9.2: Emissions from urban transport modes. Extracted from [46]. For all the above reasons, TMB aims to offer a sustainable, high-quality public transport service. In doing so, it will contribute to the construction of a city with efficient land consumption and a sustainable mobility system [46]. 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