National Advanced Air Mobility Industry Forum Returns October 15 at Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport

The National Advanced Air Mobility Industry Forum (NAAMIF) will return on October 15 at Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport, hosted by the National Advanced Air Mobility Center of Excellence (NAAMCE). The one-day working-session forum will bring together aircraft manufacturers, federal regulators, military leaders, investors and infrastructure providers to address the steps required to move advanced air mobility (AAM) from flight testing into production and routine operation.

Marc Allen, chief executive officer of Electra, will deliver the keynote address. The agenda includes an AAM Defense Fireside Chat on the intersection of advanced air mobility and national security, a Growing Capabilities Panel covering workforce, manufacturing, supply chain and infrastructure, and three workshop tracks: Beyond the Prototype, The Digital Enterprise, and From Novelty to Normal, each closing with findings presented back to the full forum. Planned speakers and participants include representatives from BETA Technologies, Joby Aviation, Eve Air Mobility, the Federal Aviation Administration and Civil Air Patrol, among others. The day also includes an exhibition, aircraft simulator time and an evening networking hour.

The U.S. advanced air mobility market is projected to reach $115 billion annually by 2035 and support more than 280,000 jobs, according to research from the Aerospace Industries Association and Deloitte, contingent on certification, manufacturing capacity, airspace integration and workforce development aligning on the same timeline. NAAMCE is described as the only facility in the United States offering end-to-end build-test-fly capability through a single coordinated partner network, with access to the National Airspace System at altitudes up to 18,000 feet and long-duration beyond-visual-line-of-sight operations without chase planes across a 225-square-mile range, enabled by SkyVision, a ground-based airspace-awareness system operated with the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Ohio UAS Center. Both Joby Aviation and Electra have announced plans to build production facilities in Ohio, and Hartzell Propeller and GE Aerospace, headquartered in Cincinnati, are among established manufacturers engaged with the sector. NAAMIF anchors NAAMCE Aviation Weekend, a three-day programme at the airport, with STEM Day on October 16 and The Great American Electric Air Race on October 17, featuring electric aircraft, biplane rides, a free FAA TRUST certificate course and an eVTOL simulator experience. "AAM technology continues to evolve, which creates a challenge when you're looking to scale up to production — certification, supply chain, infrastructure and public acceptance," said Ted Angel, executive director of NAAMCE. "NAAMIF puts the people who have the responsibility and the talent to solve those problems in the same room for a day, at a facility where this work is already happening."

This forum belongs to a broader effort across the AAM sector to close the gap between demonstrated flight testing and certified, repeatable production, a transition that depends on regulators, manufacturers and infrastructure providers moving on aligned timelines rather than separately. The projected $115 billion market and 280,000 jobs figure only materializes if certification, manufacturing capacity, airspace integration and workforce development advance together, which is why the event is structured as working sessions with findings reported back rather than as one-way presentations.

Ohio's concentration of activity — Joby Aviation and Electra building production facilities, Hartzell Propeller and GE Aerospace already present, and NAAMCE offering integrated build-test-fly access with BVLOS operations enabled by SkyVision — illustrates how regional infrastructure and airspace access can become a competitive factor in where AAM manufacturing consolidates. Facilities that can offer coordinated testing, airspace clearance and manufacturing proximity in one location reduce the friction manufacturers face in scaling from prototype to production.

What happens at the workshop tracks — Beyond the Prototype, The Digital Enterprise, and From Novelty to Normal — and whether their findings translate into concrete certification or supply-chain commitments will be the next signal of whether this coordination model is producing results beyond the forum itself.