WEBVTT - A National Strategy for Advanced Air Mobility

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news.

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<v Speaker 2>You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and

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<v Speaker 2>Tim Stenoveek on Bloomberg Radio. The China focused business news

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<v Speaker 2>site Kaishin today reporting that what was actually this week

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<v Speaker 2>yesterday that China has unveiled draft rules to speed up

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<v Speaker 2>certification of EV tall aircraft. We're talking about electric vertical

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<v Speaker 2>takeoff and landing aircraft. You haven't been on one yet? Yeah, no,

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<v Speaker 2>neither of I. The story goes on to note though,

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<v Speaker 2>the regulatory competition with the US, siting industry executives for more.

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<v Speaker 2>We're joined once again by Lisa Wright. She's founder and

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<v Speaker 2>CEO of Landings. It's a company that says it's building

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<v Speaker 2>a landing in ground operations and network of verteports for

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<v Speaker 2>EV talls. She joins us here in the Bloomberg Interactive

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<v Speaker 2>Brokers studio. Welcome back, Thank you for having me back.

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<v Speaker 2>The regulatory landscape is a really important part of this,

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<v Speaker 2>and I think last time you're on with us, you

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<v Speaker 2>said that the first passenger carrying EV talls will happen

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<v Speaker 2>in the Middle East, it won't happen here in the US.

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<v Speaker 2>Is that still the case?

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<v Speaker 3>That is still the case. I mean, they are carrying

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<v Speaker 3>passengers in China, but the Middle East will be next,

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<v Speaker 3>and then the US is coming pretty close behind.

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<v Speaker 2>Is it a disadvantage in terms of the relatory environment

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<v Speaker 2>here versus other countries.

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<v Speaker 3>No, the FAA has been working very hard. Actually, they've

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<v Speaker 3>streamlined and done a lot of fast tracking and changed

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<v Speaker 3>the training for pilots because there's going to be new

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<v Speaker 3>pilot training, et cetera. So I don't think the regulations

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<v Speaker 3>in the air has been an issue. It's just you know,

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<v Speaker 3>in Dubai and the UAE, they were more excited about

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<v Speaker 3>building the infrastructure first. So I'm very much about the infrastructure.

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<v Speaker 3>So that's why we're trying to build.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, let's talk about that because when we talk about

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<v Speaker 1>electric vehicles. We just did a story this week about

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<v Speaker 1>kind of how things are sliding backwards. And I think

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<v Speaker 1>initially early on, at least as so much of it

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<v Speaker 1>was the infrastructure wasn't there, the charging networks, and it

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<v Speaker 1>created anxiety among the consumers. So talk to us about

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<v Speaker 1>the infrastructure build out, where you guys are in this

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<v Speaker 1>process and what are some of the hurdles.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, No, there's definitely a lot of hurdles. Number one

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<v Speaker 3>is energy. So getting access to energy is hard. We're

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<v Speaker 3>not really competing with data centers, but data centers are

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<v Speaker 3>looking for energy and areas that we're looking for energy

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<v Speaker 3>as well. So what we're doing is we have two

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<v Speaker 3>people on the team who are specifically looking at energy,

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<v Speaker 3>getting the equipment financed and working with utilities, but also

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<v Speaker 3>providing battery backup and energy systems in front of the

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<v Speaker 3>meter in order to take up the slack for the charging.

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<v Speaker 3>So charging is our number one issue. Really, finding land

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<v Speaker 3>is great, we can do that, but getting the energy

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<v Speaker 3>out and to your point, there's a lot of attention

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<v Speaker 3>being paid to EV networks right now that aren't necessarily succeeding.

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<v Speaker 2>Do you actually have to be connected to the grid

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<v Speaker 2>in order to charge? Could you create a sort of

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<v Speaker 2>self contained off the grid landing area that use it

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<v Speaker 2>renewable energy?

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<v Speaker 3>Absolutely, So we use about one or two megawatts of

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<v Speaker 3>energy and you can get that from five to ten

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<v Speaker 3>acres of solar.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, So there is.

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<v Speaker 3>A way that we can do with solar. We can

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<v Speaker 3>store it exect in store with the battery and then

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<v Speaker 3>we can exactly use it for the peak when or

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<v Speaker 3>the demand when they land and need it.

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<v Speaker 1>But you can't just rely on that alone, or can you?

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<v Speaker 3>We could do that. I mean there's still grid connection

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<v Speaker 3>to most places.

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<v Speaker 2>In Arizona or yeah, you know, I don't know parts

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<v Speaker 2>of California.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, So how do you see kind of this

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<v Speaker 1>building out and what's the cost involved? Like, how do

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<v Speaker 1>you do it? Is a public private partner, Like how

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<v Speaker 1>does it all get done?

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah? So the first network of twelve that we have

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<v Speaker 3>in Upstate New York is a mix of different use cases.

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<v Speaker 3>So we have agriculture, we have entertainment and casino, We

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<v Speaker 3>have existing airports. We also have some private public private

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<v Speaker 3>partnerships going on with communities for like medical purposes and

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<v Speaker 3>first responders. So there's a whole range of uses.

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<v Speaker 1>Now.

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<v Speaker 3>A lot of the vertiports that you see right now,

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<v Speaker 3>they're very fancy. They're a column ZahaHadid buildings right Like,

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<v Speaker 3>they're amazing and futuristic, and they cost a lot of money. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 3>we're going to build two thousand of these, so we're

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<v Speaker 3>going to not make them cost a lot of money.

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<v Speaker 3>And how we're going to do that is because they're many,

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<v Speaker 3>they're very small, they're micro, they're about you know, an

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<v Speaker 3>acre and a half is the minimum space we need,

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<v Speaker 3>and we're going to put so many of them out

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<v Speaker 3>there in two thousand and not all of them will

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<v Speaker 3>have charging, but by having such a dense network, we'll

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<v Speaker 3>be able to guarantee landing spaces and charging within thirty

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<v Speaker 3>minutes of any spot you are.

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<v Speaker 2>So, I think about air traffic control in a situation

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<v Speaker 2>such as this, and we spend a lot of time

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<v Speaker 2>over the past few years talking about shortages of air

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<v Speaker 2>traffic controllers. If we're sending more of vehicles into the air,

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<v Speaker 2>there's more of a need for air traffic controllers. How

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<v Speaker 2>does that factor into the estimate for how these things

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<v Speaker 2>are going to be filling the skies?

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, no, air traffic control is really overwhelmed right now

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<v Speaker 3>with traditional flight. But because of the altitude that these

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<v Speaker 3>craft fly in, it's a different It's a different altitude

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<v Speaker 3>and it's different wavelength for communications, so they do not

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<v Speaker 3>have to use the existing air traffic control systems. There's

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<v Speaker 3>a company, a nonprofit in Syracuse called New Air that

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<v Speaker 3>is working on having all the demand for the airspace

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<v Speaker 3>for heavy drones and evytalls. So it's going to be

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<v Speaker 3>a completely different airspace.

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<v Speaker 1>Right, But you still have to have some coordination, don't you,

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<v Speaker 1>because eventually even those that are flying much higher have

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<v Speaker 1>to come down.

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<v Speaker 3>Absolutely absolutely, and when they are near airports or towered airports,

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<v Speaker 3>they still have to communicate with a tower and air

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<v Speaker 3>traffic control like normal mine. Because my locations are mostly rural,

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<v Speaker 3>very remote, they're not having the same conflict they're in

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<v Speaker 3>general airspace. But also the reason, one of the reasons

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<v Speaker 3>that we chose the Mohawk Valley upstate New York is

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<v Speaker 3>because this company, New Air, has one thousand miles of

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<v Speaker 3>air space that they're already working in, so there's drones

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<v Speaker 3>and all kinds of different things flying there already.

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<v Speaker 2>The real estate agreements that you have in place, what

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<v Speaker 2>do they look like.

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<v Speaker 3>So we do two different types of real estate agreements,

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<v Speaker 3>but what we're pushing for right now is just options.

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<v Speaker 3>So we're not leasing and we're not buying the property.

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<v Speaker 3>We're getting an option. It's much like a cell tower.

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<v Speaker 3>So in essence, we will take on then the feasibility studies,

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<v Speaker 3>the engineering, the build, will finance the equipment for the owner,

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<v Speaker 3>and once we're operating, then we'll share the revenue with them.

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<v Speaker 1>So it's been how much a month or so since

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<v Speaker 1>we've talked. Yeah, what's the biggest change in that timeframe?

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<v Speaker 3>The biggest change in the last month. There's been two.

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<v Speaker 3>But one is that everybody's stopped focusing on individual vertiports

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<v Speaker 3>and started talking about the network. Which is really key

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<v Speaker 3>for especially EV tolls, is you can't just go from

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<v Speaker 3>two points. It gets a little boring, right, you have

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<v Speaker 3>to have a lot of locations.

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<v Speaker 2>I need one that goes from home in brook Yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>seven thirty one Lexington Avenue, Okay, in midtown Manhattan, dude,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, just South Brooklyn a little bit.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, maybe, yeah, you know, I mean, what are you

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<v Speaker 1>envision that? Like, we just got like fifteen seconds where

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<v Speaker 1>what's the what's the view you think? I don't know?

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<v Speaker 1>Is it five years, ten years?

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<v Speaker 3>What's the vision five years from now? I believe everybody

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<v Speaker 3>would have got lose tribeline.

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<v Speaker 2>Wow.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, that's pretty cool.

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<v Speaker 2>That's very cool. So first WEMO, Yeah, this has people.

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<v Speaker 1>This has people fee a little bit better. Close my

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<v Speaker 1>eyes in amoth.

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<v Speaker 2>Lisa Right, founder and CEO of Landings, running us here

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<v Speaker 2>at the Bloomberg Interactive Brokers studio