REGULATION BEFORE AIRCRAFT

Eve Air Mobility and RV Connex Co., Ltd. are signing a Memorandum of Understanding to work together on regulatory development intended to help shape Thailand’s advanced air mobility industry. Under its terms the two companies will jointly collaborate on long-term industry and regulatory engagement in Thailand, bringing together public and private stakeholders to establish what they describe as safe, efficient and scalable advanced air mobility operations.

The sequencing is the point. An eVTOL manufacturer cannot sell into a market that has no framework for certifying, operating or housing the aircraft, and that framework takes longer to build than the aircraft does. Working with a national authority on operational scenarios, safety requirements, airspace rules and infrastructure needs before there is an aircraft to certify is how a manufacturer ensures the rules that eventually emerge are ones its product can meet, and it is why agreements of this kind are being signed well ahead of any delivery commitment.

Johann Bordais, Chief Executive Officer at Eve Air Mobility, said Thailand offered an opportunity for urban air mobility and that working with RV Connex allowed the company to help shape the regulations the industry needs to grow, describing the MOU as showing a commitment to building the regulatory and operational foundations together with local partners.

GLOBAL STANDARDS, LOCAL CONDITIONS

The collaboration is intended to evaluate future operational scenarios, safety requirements, airspace rules and infrastructure needs specific to Thailand’s aviation system, learning from global advanced air mobility standards while meeting the needs of the Thai market. RV Connex will work with partners from government, academia and industry to ensure the process is thorough and inclusive.

Sujate Jantarang, President of RV Connex, said the company wanted to help make Thailand a leader in global advanced air mobility, and that the MOU with Eve and its partners would create a framework to help Thai authorities develop modern, globally aligned regulations for the technology. The reference to global alignment is the operative constraint: a national framework that diverges from emerging international practice creates a market that manufacturers must certify into separately, which for a country of Thailand’s size would raise rather than lower the barrier to entry.

RV Connex is a Thai aerospace and advanced technology company specialising in research, development and manufacturing of aviation and autonomous systems, with expertise spanning unmanned aerial systems, aircraft engineering and integrated operational command and control, supported by a sovereign capability to design, build and sustain aerospace platforms in Thailand and an established cybersecurity practice. Eve Air Mobility is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the São Paulo Stock Exchange, and is backed by Embraer’s 56-year history in aerospace, taking what it describes as a holistic approach to the urban air mobility ecosystem across its eVTOL project, a global services and support network and an air traffic management solution.