SALT LAKE CITY—When the world comes to the 2034 Olympics in Salt Lake City, visitors could be flying to the venues in electric aircrafts. The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) in conjunction with 47G | Utah Aerospace and Defense (47G) announced during a press conference Tuesday, March 10, that Utah has been selected by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to lead a federal pilot program to test advanced electric aircraft and other aviation technologies. 

Utah is one of eight projects nationwide for the Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVOTL) Integration Pilot Program.

“This is an exciting day for us,” said Matt Maass, Aerospace Director UDOT. “What this means for Utah and air mobility is that this enables us to work very closely with the FAA and test the technology that makes up advanced air mobility.”

So the vertical takeoff and landing aircraft that will be used for moving passengers, these aircraft will also be used for moving cargo, medical transport and it’s all going to be done electrically, he said. “These electric aircraft operate so much more efficiently than a fuel fossil powered aircraft. We’ve heard that some of these aircraft operate at roughly $17 an hour, minus the pilot cost.”

Utah is such a fantastic state for this, said Moss. “If they want to test something at high altitude in a snowy environment, right now they can go up to Alta and do some testing. If they need to test something at a lower elevation, in a desert environment, they can also do that here.”

“As you know in Utah we have a great quality of life and that quality of life is going to get better,” said Senate President Stuart Adams. “I have a better quality of life than my parents did and my grandparents did and I want my grandkids to have a better quality of life than I do. This announcement today is going to help with that.”

Adams said about eight years ago on the opening day of the legislature he talked about air taxis being deployed and developed. “My staff had found a video of an air taxi that was actually functioning and I said, ‘one day those air taxis will be flying in Utah. We need to lead this effort.’”

That one day is today, he said. “We are now leading the effort with other states to bring air mobility to Utah.”

“47G is grateful to help pull us together to form what is now known as Project Alta, the Air Logistics Transportation Alliance (Alta),” said Aaron Starks, president and CEO of 47G. “A public, private coalition focused on advancing this effort for the state of Utah.”

From an infrastructural standpoint, from a software standpoint, from an aircraft maintenance and production standpoint, Utah is front and center now, he said. “This is going to bring with it a lot of jobs and a lot of economic opportunity.”

Starks said he grew up in northern Utah. “I remember as a kid coming down to Salt Lake it was a big deal. You can be in an air taxi in Provo to Moab in 36 minutes. So, say I’m a Jazz fan or I want to go catch an MLV game. My family can be in Salt Lake and we can be part of what’s happening here in the state.”

Fees for riders haven’t been determined yet, he said. “There are a lot of residents who commute from Cache Valley down to Ogden and Salt Lake every day for work. It would be great if they could pay a subscription fee, get into the air taxi and be in Salt Lake in 18 minutes.”

There’s this tendency to think it’s going to pollute the skies with drones and air tech, said Starks. “That’s not going to be the case at all. You can hear (regular) aircraft but you aren’t going to hear these. So it’s a much better form of flying.”

It will happen in a phased approach, he said. “We're going to have to work with the FAA to determine where the flights go, flight paths have to be approved. The aircraft won’t be done autonomously.These will be piloted.” 

“I talked to Brad Wilson, former Speaker of the House and a good friend who is in Milan for the Paralympics,” said Adams. “They’re having trouble getting around. They’re having trouble moving people to different events. Our goal, our vision, is we hope to have this functioning to be able to show off air taxis delivering people to our Olympic venues. Can you imagine people coming to Utah visiting these Olympic venues in air taxis? Moving people around with the ultimate transportation.”

“I think we’re showing off the state of Utah,” Starks said. “I couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve accomplished. We are one of seven states selected to adopt our mobility technology at a faster and faster accelerated rate.”

Starks said now they have federal approval to do so by the Department of Transportation, the FAA and the White House. “It’s so exciting. We’ve been talking about this for three years but today it became a reality.”