Electric aviation study led by OHIO researchers serves as guide for Appalachian community development

Aviation enables economic growth and vital public and commercial services across Appalachia, and many of the benefits occur through the region’s 230 small public general aviation airports.

Dramatic changes underway in the aviation industry, though, will challenge these airports’ continued ability to serve their communities while also creating new economic opportunities for them.

A rapidly emerging generation of electric aircraft, collectively known as Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), has the potential to increase aviation benefits to Appalachia.

While most attention on emerging AAM aircraft has focused on urban applications such as air taxies, a recent Ohio University study found that smaller communities also stand to benefit, provided their local airports are adequately upgraded to support electric aviation.

Are regional aiports ready for Advance Air Mobility aircraft?

For the University’s assessment of such needs in Appalachia, OHIO researchers examined AAM Readiness requirements at 37 airports in Ohio, North Carolina, and Kentucky. The most extensive study of its kind found that Appalachian Region airports can prepare for and employ emerging AAM uses with “relatively minimal infrastructure updates” while aligning electric aircraft technologies with existing economic development goals.

Funded by a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission, the study was led by two researchers from OHIO’s George V. Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service: Senior Executive in Residence Brent Lane, who served as principal investigator, and Senior Research Manager Laurie McKnight, who led engagement efforts with local development groups and other community representatives in Ohio, Kentucky and North Carolina, where state officials also collaborated on the review.

The study was co-authored by the Institute for Transportation Research and Education (ITRE) at North Carolina State University, which developed a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based site suitability analysis.

Lane and McKnight, of the Voinovich School’s Center for Economic Development and Community Resilience, visited 37 airports in 15 Appalachian counties to evaluate the technological and business feasibility of using electronic aircraft.

“While the development of AAM aircraft and use cases is progressing rapidly, this study found that the apparent complexities involved in AAM readiness strategies can be resolved by recognizing the relevance of aviation in Appalachia and taking action to capitalize on the AAM applications that expand aviation’s current role in serving community and economic development priorities,” a summary of the findings states.

Study examines ability of airports to prepare for these changes

The study, which combined AAM use feasibility analyses with potential benefits as prioritized by host communities “found a strong alignment between important community development goals – public safety, workforce development, economic growth – and the most imminent AAM applications,” according to the study. Comparisons of the smaller airports’ current infrastructure with AAM readiness requirements “found most would involve relatively minimal infrastructure updates, in sharp contrast with the extensive, dedicated requirements” of higher profile electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

Lane said that the scope of the study was designed to provide information useful not only to the participating airports but to general aviation airports across Appalachia and throughout the United States.

“The challenges and opportunities of AAM Readiness we found are not unique to Appalachia. They are relevant to communities served by general aviation everywhere,” Lane said.

One of the key findings was counterintuitive in terms of the potential costs of adapting to AAM uses.

It’s not a “daunting” challenge, but rather “very obtainable,” Lane said. “Most of the benefits are going to come from relatively modest, unexotic uses of electric aircraft that don’t need big infrastructure upgrade requirements but can make very good use of the existing infrastructure. It took what looked like a big, expensive complex issue and reduced it down to some very practical applications well within the reach of the current technology and infrastructure.”

Still, it does require as much in terms of strategic preparation as it does physical infrastructure preparation “to be ready for this future whichever way it develops,” he added. “It’s particularly important we be ready outside of the major metro areas, as we found when we worked in Appalachia.”

Helping Appalachian communities prepare while gathering input into the study was a focus for McKnight, who worked to ensure local government officials, educators, workforce developers, and airport executives are informed and equipped to leverage AAM. Her outreach included targeted presentations to diverse stakeholders, ranging from county commissioners and transportation planning boards to educators and students.

Helping local communities to best utilize their airports

In the process, McKnight found that many rural communities were completely unaware of their small general aviation airports and how they can be utilized.

“They are undeveloped and under invested in which means for them to be able to capitalize on the new advanced aviation technology, they must begin investing in the infrastructure improvements needed now,” she said. The lack of investment has allowed some of these airports to go nearly unused, and AAM could help revitalize their region by allowing for quicker, quieter, and life-changing uses such as air ambulances and other emergency responses.

The needs of each community varied based on their priorities, and the workforce training for AAM will be just as diverse and the current lack of pilots will only increase, McKnight added.

“Training needs to be developed for crewed, uncrewed aircraft along with electric aircraft technicians. The technology is moving at the speed of light, but the training has not," McKnight said.

ITRE’s GIS-based site suitability review looked at how prepared airports in the region are for AAM and electric aviation uses. Rather than treating AAM as a single technology or market, the analysis evaluated each airport against nine potential uses: air taxi, regional air mobility, airport shuttle, emergency medical services, business aviation, cargo, flight training, tourism, and leisure aviation.

The institute followed up on the analysis, which considered operating ranges of emerging electric aircraft and other factors, with a comprehensive survey of airport managers from the 37 study airports that achieved a 100% response rate.

“One of the strengths of this research was combining a data-driven GIS suitability analysis with the perspectives of airport managers and Appalachian communities,” said Daniel Findley, associate director of ITRE. “We weren’t just asking where electric aviation could work – we wanted to understand which applications made sense for each airport and which opportunities communities themselves viewed as useful and realistic.”

ITRE’s review highlighted that suitability alone does not equal readiness. Electrical infrastructure can ultimately determine whether an otherwise promising airport can accommodate electric aircraft.

“Three-phase power has emerged as a fundamental infrastructure requirement for airports to serve the high-capacity charging demands of electric aircraft,” said Steve Bert, Economics and Policy Assessment Program manager at ITRE. “Investing in utility capacity not only helps airports address an immediate electric aviation need but supports long-term development and readiness for future aviation technologies.”

Additional findings from the study

Current aviation benefits are significant though under-recognized

The study region is home to 37 general aviation airports with a total of more than 850 aircraft being based in the region. Collectively, these airports support nearly 600,000 flight operations annually. Yet, an extensive review of the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies (CEDS) of each of the 15 development groups found that despite those planning documents emphasis on the important role of transportation infrastructure in their regions’ economic development efforts, aviation and enabling public airports were very rarely mentioned.

The AAM “future” is already occurring

While most public attention has focused on more speculative AAM uses such as on-demand air taxis and eVTOL aircraft, the long-term nature of such developments has masked the rapid advancement of practical applications in drones, emergency services, air cargo, and flight instruction using established technologies and conventional aircraft configuration. More imminent AAM uses, such as emergency services, military, air cargo, and flight instruction, which already account for most flights at Appalachian airports, may offer the most relevant benefits.

AAM advancement has revealed General Aviation underinvestment

The deployment of AAM aircraft in both the near- and long-term term will require infrastructure updates to airports everywhere. While such requirements will vary significantly across individual airports, the accelerating electrification of ground and air transportation will require airports large and small to strengthen their electric utility capacity. While Appalachia’s airports currently lack the infrastructure to support electric transportation, 30 of 37 of the study’s cohort airports lacked three-phase electrical utility capacity required not only for potential future AAM activity, but for some important current airport operations.