AAM Corridors, Airspace Markets, and Integration

Date and Time: Tuesday, May 16: 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
Location: Auditorium

Brent Skorup

Mercatus Center at George Mason University

PRESENTATION DESCRIPTION

FAA plans for advanced air mobility envision "AAM corridors," which are three-dimensional volumes of airspace where tactical air traffic control "separation services are not provided." Instead, FAA-authorized parties will provide separation services to aircraft within the corridors. As researchers have pointed out, the creation of AAM corridors and (often) private separation services within the corridor will create a contest between AAM firms for the corridors. Different business plans, aircraft types, and vertiport service operations will often create incompatibility between operators. One public policy proposal for efficient and fair allocation of corridors, discussed in federal reports and by MIT and other researchers, is the introduction of airspace markets. In particular, auctions could allocate AAM corridors, as well as help fund needed federal investments in new air traffic management services. This presentation would discuss existing federal and state assets that are auctioned or leased to private industry, like radio spectrum and offshore wind energy sites, and highlight some of the benefits and downsides of airspace markets for AAM technologies and integration.

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY

Brent Skorup is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. His research areas include transportation technology, telecommunications, and aviation policy.

He has served federal and state advisory bodies, including the FCC’s Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee, the Texas DOT's Urban Air Mobility Advisory Committee, and as a drone law advisor to the Virginia Department of Aviation.

In addition to economics and law journal publication, he has authored pieces for Reuters, Air Traffic Management magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Wired, Bloomberg Law, and elsewhere. He’s appeared as a TV and radio interview guest for news outlets like C-SPAN, NPR, CBS News, ABC News, and CNBC Asia.

Brent has a BA in economics from Wheaton College and a law degree from the George Mason University School of Law. In law school, he was a legal clerk at the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and at the Energy and Commerce Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.

PRESENTATION FILE