Citizens expect an increasingly seamless mobility experience, where their “passenger experience” will be smooth, safe and cost-efficient, with minimum delays, transfers and hassle. Implementing the multimodal mobility concept means that passengers shall not need to worry about selecting the most appropriate means of travelling. In that endeavour, aviation and air transport shall support a safe, efficient and green travel experience and promote use of the most appropriate mean or means of transport. In this way, aviation shall play its part on the global greening of transport and address its own issues of congestion, delays and suboptimal passenger experiences.
In addition, civil and military airspace users, stakeholders and State authorities (both civil and military) are recognising new business and mission opportunities enabled by the latest airborne vehicle technologies, in particular various types of drones and very high altitude vehicles. These new opportunities have the potential to bring significant value to the European society, in terms of industrial leadership, economic opportunities and passenger experience. These opportunities shall be integral part of the evolution of ATM towards a fully integrated ATM in which all types of aerial operations shall be performed safely and efficiently. Mobility as a service will take inter-modality to a next level, connecting numerous modes of transport into seamless door-to-door services, for people and goods. There will be increasingly diverse aircraft in the European skies at any moment in time than ever before, and drones (civil and military) will be completely and seamlessly integrated into all environments and classes of airspace, operating safely and efficiently alongside manned aircraft. Evolution of transportation modes includes seamlessly combining various means of transport, such as car, train, helicopters, drones and aircraft, for different segments of a trip. Integration of RPAS, Rotorcraft, Business and General aviation operations through IFR procedures using performance based CNS infrastructure in the airspace surrounding airports, as well as in the TMA, is a priority. Therefore access and equity of all airspace users to the airspace, broadens the options for achieving door-to-door mobility. A coherent multi-modal regulatory framework may be needed to support this objective, including new ATC methods and review and adaptation of ATS. ATM as a whole needs be flexible enough to accommodate additional aspects associated with intermodal transportation.