NBAA applauds US House of Representatives on passing a bill to accelerate Advanced Air Mobility
The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) has applauded the action taken in the US House of Representatives on two key pieces of aviation legislation.
The first — known as the Advanced Aviation Infrastructure Modernisation Act (AAIM Act) — focused on accelerating the growth of advanced air mobility (AAM), which authorises funding to build critical new infrastructure. This will be done by leveraging existing vertiports and other public transportation facilities to support AAM operations.
The proposal, HR 6270, was first introduced last December by T&I Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Rick Larsen, Ranking Aviation Subcommittee Member Garret Graves and Representative Dina Titus.
The bipartisan measure was immediately met with strong support from NBAA and NBAA’s AAM Roundtable, a group of high-level sector leaders charting a course for integration of the pioneering technologies into the nation’s airspace and infrastructure.
The second bill establishes a National Center for the Advancement of Aviation, which will bring together stakeholders from across the military and private sectors, in part to provide STEM-focused resources to high school and collegiate curriculum developers.
Both bills were reviewed and approved by the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee, a key step in the congressional legislative process. Both will now move to the House floor for deliberation.
NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen said: “We thank Representatives Larsen, Graves and Titus for their leadership in introducing this important legislation, and their House colleagues for their strong support for the advancement of these pioneering on-demand aviation technologies.”
Bolen added: “NBAA is totally committed to promoting the development of our industry’s future workforce and we look forward to doing all we can to ensure passage of this legislation.”
In a tweet announcing the passing of the bill, Representative Rick Larsen, who is Chair of the Aviation Subcommittee and Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, also thanked a host of companies involved in the efforts. These included the Vertical Flight Society, National Air Transportation Association, General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) and the Community Air Mobility Initiative (CAMI).
In late March, the US Senate passed the Advanced Air Mobility Coordination and Leadership Act, which establishes an inter-agency working group to more effectively engage the federal government in furthering the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) sector.
In May last year, the NBAA formed a new Advanced Air Mobility roundtable, with founding members including eVTOL aircraft developers Eve Air Mobility, Joby Aviation, Lilium and Wisk, to act as a forum for high-level policy planning with sector leaders, and to chart a course for the integration of AAM technologies into US airspace and infrastructure.
Other founding members include Supernal and Hillwood Aviation.