Notice2025-17844
Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing and Advanced Air Mobility Integration Pilot Program-Announcement of Establishment of Program and Request for Proposals
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Published
September 16, 2025
Issuing agencies
Transportation DepartmentFederal Aviation Administration
Abstract
The Department of Transportation (DOT), through the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), announces a new eVTOL and AAM Integration Pilot Program (eIPP) that will accelerate the deployment of safe and lawful eVTOL and other AAM aircraft operations in the United States. The eIPP requests that State, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) governments, in partnership with a private sector partner(s) with demonstrated experience in eVTOL or other AAM development, manufacturing, and operations, or new supporting technologies enabling AAM operations integration into the NAS, submit proposals. The eIPP continues the DOT's efforts to integrate eVTOL and other AAM aircraft developed or offered by a United States-based entity into the National Airspace System (NAS) by identifying the most effective partnerships to test and validate operational concepts that can be scaled to national and international applications. SLTT governments and their private sector partner(s) will propose and define these operational concepts under the safety oversight role of the FAA.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 177 (Tuesday, September 16, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 177 (Tuesday, September 16, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44751-44753]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-17844]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Aviation Administration
[Docket No. FAA-2025-2633]
Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing and Advanced Air Mobility
Integration Pilot Program--Announcement of Establishment of Program and
Request for Proposals
AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of the establishment of the Electric Vertical Takeoff
and Landing (eVTOL) and Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Integration Pilot
Program (eIPP) and request for proposals.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Transportation (DOT), through the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA), announces a new eVTOL and AAM
Integration Pilot Program (eIPP) that will accelerate the deployment of
safe and lawful eVTOL and other AAM aircraft operations in the United
States. The eIPP requests that State, local, tribal, and territorial
(SLTT) governments, in partnership with a private sector partner(s)
with demonstrated experience in eVTOL or other AAM development,
manufacturing, and operations, or new supporting technologies enabling
AAM operations integration into the NAS, submit proposals. The eIPP
continues the DOT's efforts to integrate eVTOL and other AAM aircraft
developed or offered by a United States-based entity into the National
Airspace System (NAS) by identifying the most effective partnerships to
test and validate operational concepts that can be scaled to national
and international applications. SLTT governments and their private
sector partner(s) will propose and define these operational concepts
under the safety oversight role of the FAA.
DATES: Interested SLTT governments must submit a proposal to
participate in the eIPP in accordance with the SIR posted to <a href="http://sam.gov">sam.gov</a> no
later than 3 p.m. ET on December 11, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general Program questions, Mr.
Wade Terrell, Acting Director, Advanced Air Mobility Operations
Division, 490 L'Enfant Plaza SW (Suite 500), Washington, DC 20024;
telephone (405) 423-7936; email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#764f5b3721375b133f26263610171758111900"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="665f4b2731274b032f36362600070748010910">[email protected]</span></a>; or, for
solicitation questions, Mrs. Kristin Frantz, Contracting Officer, AAQ-
590, UAS and Emerging Technologies Branch, Federal Aviation
Administration, 1701 Columbia Avenue, College Park, GA 30337; telephone
(404) 305-5779; email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#165d647f65627f7838423850647778626c5670777738717960"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="7239001b01061b1c5c265c3400131c0608321413135c151d04">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
In Executive Order 14307, Unleashing American Drone Dominance,
dated June 6, 2025, the President declared that it is the policy of the
United States to accelerate the safe commercialization of UAS
technologies and fully integrate UAS into the NAS, as well as eVTOL and
other AAM aircraft operations.\1\ The President directed the Secretary
of Transportation, acting through the Administrator of the FAA and in
coordination with the Director of the Office of Science and Technology
Policy (OSTP), to establish an Integration Pilot Program under which
SLTT governments can partner with private sector organizations with
demonstrated experience in eVTOL or other AAM development,
manufacturing, and operations, or new supporting technologies enabling
AAM operations integration into the NAS.
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\1\ A copy of the President's Executive Order has been placed in
this docket.
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Working with leading partners across industry and government, the
DOT is utilizing the opportunity provided by the Executive Order to
demonstrate that America can build and deploy the safe and beneficial
AAM technologies envisioned in the United States National Strategy to
Support Advanced Air Mobility (National Strategy). The DOT and the FAA
are seeking partners who can deliver successful outcomes by working
cooperatively with a range of entities, which will accelerate these
projects consistent with the high safety standards that the public
expects from the aviation industry. These projects, once successful,
are expected to deliver substantial data and lessons learned to inform
the broader regulatory safety and economic framework that will support
and oversee the AAM sector.
The focus of this pilot program will be achieving ambitious
national objectives in core areas that are in the public interest.
Operations that are envisioned include piloted and unmanned approaches
to:
<bullet> Air Taxis: Short range, on demand flying eVTOLs connecting
to ground transport, demonstrating reduced noise impacts.
<bullet> Longer-range, fixed wing flights moving people in new
forms of advanced regional aircraft with capabilities such as short
takeoff and landing that could unlock new and more economically viable
possibilities in air travel.
<bullet> Cargo: Using novel aircraft, including potentially fixed
wing aircraft, to provide cargo services.
<bullet> Logistics and supply: Demonstrating new airlift and
emergency management services, such as eVTOL operations for servicing
offshore energy facilities and improving medical transport capabilities
with lower costs and impacts on local communities.
<bullet> Increasing Automation Safety: Demonstrating safe
integration of aircraft with a range of automation technologies
designed to enhance safety and/or efficiency in AAM operations.
While individual projects will likely focus on select national
objectives, the DOT and FAA envision that each project would
demonstrate broad public benefits such as safety enhancements, quality
of life enhancements, workforce development opportunities adding net
[[Page 44752]]
new and high-paying jobs to the U.S. economy. It would also provide
advanced cooperative flow and traffic management with a range of
aircraft including UAS, advanced manufacturing in the United States,
supply chain security and independence, and cooperation across agencies
of the Federal, State, tribal, territorial, and local governments
including, for example, security coordination with TSA as needed.
The eIPP implements this national policy under the FAA's general
authority to develop plans and policy for the use of the navigable
airspace. 49 U.S.C. 40103(b). The eIPP will remove barriers to the
initial implementation of AAM to accelerate nationwide operations, and
address the requirements set forth in the FAA Reauthorization Act of
2024 (Pub. L. 118-63). Through this eIPP, the DOT and the FAA will work
through selected offerors and their partner(s) to enable initial
operations with an acceptable level of safety that can be tailored to
their aircraft, operation, and location. As a result, that experience
will inform the national policy and guidance, rules, best practices and
processes that focus on developing scalable models and significantly
accelerating outcomes to enable routine eVTOL or other AAM aircraft
operations in line with recommendations included in the National
Strategy.
The DOT and the FAA are seeking visionary, mission-focused
participants who will captivate the imagination of Americans, showcase
specific functions that AAM can perform for America in a short period
of time, and drive the AAM National Strategy forward. This eIPP will
afford opportunities to industry participants positioned to make large
contributions to AAM, working with willing SLTT governments as
sponsors. Offerors should be willing to coordinate approaches across
all projects to gather meaningful data to accelerate solutions for
scaling AAM. With safety as our highest priority, we expect this eIPP
to provide valuable insight to assist the DOT and the FAA in enabling
the United States' advanced aviation aircraft industry to thrive.
Selected Offerors will be expected to demonstrate advances in
technological capabilities as well as operational concepts. While
ensuring safety through appropriate mitigations, the DOT and the FAA
intend to expedite the evaluation and approval of eVTOL and other AAM
operations beyond those currently permitted today. Activities under the
eIPP will:
<bullet> Accelerate the safe and efficient integration of eVTOL and
other AAM operations within the NAS;
<bullet> Generate data to inform the FAA's development of guidance
and regulations;
<bullet> Foster and leverage public-private partnerships; and
<bullet> Provide opportunities to accelerate commercial-use
operations.
I. Program Overview
The success of the eIPP will depend on the mutually beneficial
partnerships between SLTT governments and their private sector
partners. Successful partnerships will help rapidly establish
operations and venues that enhance public awareness and understanding
of AAM operations, which enable the use of eVTOL and other AAM aircraft
for new and innovative applications. The eIPP will encourage an
ambitious scale of pre-certification operations and will incorporate
varied solutions where the most successful implementations become
standards of practice for future scaling of operations.
The DOT and the FAA will manage this program differently from the
Drone IPP that launched in 2017, which focused primarily on evaluation
and conducting operations in specific geographic areas within the
boundaries of SLTT jurisdictions, including among several states. For
this program, DOT will work with capable partners who can demonstrate
the viability of new AAM technologies in ways that deliver new benefits
to the public--and then to take the lessons learned from these projects
to enable such operations at scale, consistent with the highest safety
standards.
Consistent with the language of the E.O., any SLTT government (as
the eIPP Offeror) with at least one private sector partner(s) and a
plan to achieve one of more national objectives is eligible to apply to
participate in the eIPP. The SLTT will play a crucial role as the host
of operations and planning while bearing a key responsibility to
represent local community interests. However, projects should be
closely coordinated with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and
operators and be flexible to adapt and expand as needed to include
partners and contributors beyond individual communities for full
operational implementation. For instance, a project focused on regional
flights as described in this notice will necessarily feature work with
more than one community, or a consortia of communities across states,
to demonstrate those operational capabilities.
The DOT and the FAA will evaluate all proposals received. A minimum
of five participants will be selected. Once a proposal is selected, the
Offeror will enter into an Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) with the
FAA. The agreement will establish the responsibilities of the parties,
describe the concept of operations to be undertaken, and establish any
data sharing requirements. The eIPP shall conclude 3 years after the
date the first pilot project becomes operational, unless the Secretary
of Transportation determines that an extension is warranted in the
national interest.
II. How To Apply
The FAA has posted a Request for Proposals (RFP)/Screening
Information Request (SIR) 697DCK-25-R-00445 on <a href="http://sam.gov">sam.gov</a>. Prospective
offerors must be a State, local, tribal and territorial government
governments, in partnership with a private sector partner(s) with
demonstrated experience in eVTOL or other AAM development,
manufacturing, and operations, or new supporting technologies enabling
AAM operations integration into the NAS.
III. Other Transaction Agreement
Once selected, participants will be required to enter into an OTA
with the FAA. The OTA will establish the terms of participation in the
eIPP and identify the respective rights and responsibilities of both
the FAA and the participant. The DOT and the FAA expect to negotiate
agreements tailored to the specifics of each proposal.
Participants will engage in periodic exchanges with the FAA
regarding the project's purposes, including discussing and sharing the
expanded eVTOL or other AAM aircraft capabilities' results and
experiences. Participants will adhere to the privacy policies and data
collection requirements specified in the agreement. Each participant
will bear its own costs.
The agreement will not include the transfer of any authority for
airspace management or access upon signing. Any approval of airspace
use will be handled in accordance with existing FAA policies and
procedures.
The participant will share data with the FAA, as outlined in the
agreement, resulting from its development and testing of the operations
concepts. Such data will enable the FAA to study the effects of eVTOL
or other AAM aircraft integration into the NAS while providing
supporting evidence for future policy or regulatory changes.
The FAA will provide a means for the participant and stakeholder
partners to submit confidential or proprietary data
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concerning their operations. However, any operational data and general
experience obtained through the partnerships will be available to the
public subject to any restrictions on the release of confidential or
proprietary information as agreed upon by the parties.
IV. Availability of This Notice
You can obtain a paper copy by sending a request to the Federal
Aviation Administration, Office of Rulemaking, ARM-1, 800 Independence
Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20591, or by calling (202) 267-9680. Make
sure to identify the docket number or notice number of this proposal.
Issued in Washington, DC, on September 12, 2025.
Wade E.K. Terrell,
Acting Director, Advanced Air Mobility Operations Division.
[FR Doc. 2025-17844 Filed 9-12-25; 11:15 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P
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