A pilot program was held in Jeju to test the feasibility of express cargo delivery by urban air mobility platforms (J-UAM) to lead the future of mobility in Jeju.

In partnership with the Jeju Free International City Development Center (JDC) and Kencoa Aerospace Corporation, Jeju Special Self-governing Province held a comprehensive pilot operation event for Jeju-based urban air mobility (J-UAM) on the 21st of last month.

This test operation was promoted as part of the trilateral MOU between the JDC, Jeju, and Kencoa to establish an ecosystem for the drone industry and introduce urban air transport.

The UAM is an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle with no need for a runway that produces little noise and carbon emissions, which is receiving the spotlight as a next-generation transport system that will lead innovation across Jeju in areas such as tourism, emergency response, transport, and logistics.

The event took place in the order of a presentation on a study on potential routes for the J-UAM, drone-based cargo delivery between Jeju-si and Chuja Island, and a demonstration flight for a personal air vehicle (PAV).

The small-scale unmanned drone departed from Chuja Island and flew 72km to Gujwa Sports Complex in Jeju-si to successfully deliver an urgent document, thereby proving the feasibility of digital cargo delivery in the future.

In addition, a PAV (width 4.595ｍ, length 4.145ｍ, height 1.155ｍ) capable of manned flight and amphibious landing demonstrated a low-altitude flight around the vicinity of Gujwa Sports Complex, encouraging the hope for the commercialization of innovative future transport methods such as air taxis.

Jeju plans to conduct a further safety test in coastal areas and expand the service to allow tours of Baengnokdam Crater Lake in Hallasan in the medium-to-long-term.

Starting with a non-urban, low-density tourist air taxi linking Seolsan Ilchulbong Peak, Udo Island, and the Songaksan-Gapado-Marado route, the program plans to expand its services to various public services including cargo delivery to remote islands or mountainous areas and urgent transport of emergency medical patients, in addition to plans to utilize UAM as transportation methods that link all areas of Jeju.

“Fostering Jeju into a leading region for future mobility and the aerospace industry” is a core task of the Jeju provincial government elected through Korea’s 8th local elections. Jeju aims to commercialize urban air mobility (UAM) by linking various smart mobility platforms with eco-friendly autonomous-driving services to allow all Jeju residents and tourists to move around easily, vitalize the tourism industry in linkage with future industries, and foster new, high-value-added growth engines in order to expand such efforts into a regional economic development plan.

To this end, Jeju has signed a MOU to promote the J-UAM trial project with Korea Airports Corporation, Hanhwa Systems, and SK Telecom.