Why Ground Infrastructure, Not Aircraft, Is AAM's Real Bottleneck

The advanced air mobility sector has long focused on aircraft certification as its primary hurdle, but a growing voice argues that ground infrastructure is the more pressing and time-consuming challenge. Lisa Wright, founder of Landings, draws a direct parallel to the electric vehicle industry, which produced cars faster than charging networks could support them, leading to range anxiety and fragmented infrastructure. For advanced air mobility, vertiport development involves land agreements, community approvals, utility connections, and energy assessments—each carrying multi-year timelines. Wright emphasizes that even once aircraft are certified, commercial service cannot begin without prepared landing sites, and developers who assumed infrastructure could be built quickly are discovering lead times of years, not months.

Energy infrastructure emerges as the most underappreciated bottleneck, particularly for networks targeting rural or semi-rural locations. Grid connections to remote landing sites can take years, and off-grid solar and battery systems require long procurement timelines. To bridge the gap, some operators are exploring mobile charging units—trucks delivering on-demand power—as a temporary solution. For operators focused on underserved regions, energy logistics become a primary design challenge rather than an afterthought. Wright notes, "Energy is still the real bottleneck," and the timeline for equipment can be longer than expected.

Because vertiport development requires years of community engagement, regulatory navigation, and energy planning, early movers hold a permanent advantage. Operators who started early can offer manufacturers ready sites, while new entrants face years to catch up. The FAA’s EIPP program is launching operations this summer, and the question of where aircraft will land is shifting from theoretical to operational. For property owners and communities, the calculus is straightforward: service will flow to locations where infrastructure already exists when commercial operations begin. Landings is building a network of 2,000+ rural vertiport locations through revenue-sharing partnerships, taking an infrastructure-first approach.