Airport AAM readiness
CIP- and grant-shaped readiness across facilities and stakeholders — the planning path that keeps capital fundable.
Principal advisory
Richard Walsh · a3i global
Where today's airports meet Advanced Air Mobility.
Boutique specialist advisory: systems-level strategies that position airports, DOTs, and cities for economic growth.
Forward-looking capability — understanding the environment and finding solution sets in the challenge space — so legacy aviation and Advanced Air Mobility meet without stranding capital.
Published NASA Contractor Reports on Assessing The Electrification of Aviation’s Impact on the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, and Regional Air Mobility: Infrastructure Challenges, Passenger and Cargo Market Potential, and Sustainability Strategies for Underserved Airports.
- A.A.E.
- NASA CAS/NARI SME
- PSP · SFO · ACAA · NYSDOT · NASA CAS/NARI SME
Who we serve
GA & NPIAS, Part 139, DOTs, cities — and primes
- General aviation & NPIAS airports
- Part 139 commercial service airports
- State DOTs
- Cities / SLTT
- Primes & specialty subs
Cities evaluating early AAM on existing structures — parking garages and buildings — as adaptive reuse alongside underutilized airport systems.
Sweet spot: general aviation and other NPIAS airports that are resource-constrained in a capital-intensive environment — plus the communities that depend on them — alongside Part 139 facilities, where systems-level strategies can still unlock economic growth.
Independent advisor to sponsors and DOTs · Specialty sub to primes when airport systems and AAM readiness need operator-grade depth.
As national AAM strategy frames it: near-term operations lean on today’s airports; electrification and funding are the hard problems; purpose-built vertiports scale later and are largely private capital. a3i helps sponsors, DOTs, cities, and primes turn that into fundable readiness — not forecasts or OEM timelines.
Teaming and proposal support welcome — specialty fill on prime pursuits, not staff augmentation.
Plans shaped to stand inside the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS), FAR Part 139 airport certification and operations, FAA Advisory Circular 150-series planning and design guidance, and Airport and Airway Trust Fund funding realities.
Services
What we help you do
Airport energy & economics
Airport and Airway Trust Fund–aware charging, power, and energy-node economics — before aircraft arrive, and before capital is stranded.
Airfield & airspace operations
How new aircraft fit Part 139 and underutilized general aviation facilities — legacy systems and day-to-day operations — without breaking what already works.
Sponsor diligence
Independent review of eVTOL / AAM proposals that reuse existing urban structures — operable, fundable, and community-fit — not greenfield vertiport delivery.
Also embeds as specialty support on aerospace and aviation prime and subcontractor teams — readiness, energy economics, airfield and airspace operations, and independent diligence — not turnkey delivery.
Selected work
Selected work
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NASA/CR–20250001574 — Assessing The Electrification of Aviation’s Impact on the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (2025)
Systems-level read of electrification against Trust Fund and AIP realities — so sponsors can shape fundable readiness without stranding growth at resource-constrained airports.
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NASA/CR–20250002542 — Regional Air Mobility: Infrastructure Challenges, Passenger and Cargo Market Potential, and Sustainability Strategies for Underserved Airports (2025)
Treats RAM infrastructure and markets as one system at existing underserved airports — so capital decisions enlarge the growth path rather than strand it.
Insights
Written for sponsors and systems
Written analysis complementary to the published work above. LinkedIn permalinks welcome when you have them.
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Article
Public-private partnerships at underutilized NPIAS airports
How sponsors can fund AAM/RAM electrification readiness when AIP match dollars are thin.
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Article
NPIAS evolution for AI and Advanced Air Mobility
Why the national airport system plan has to adapt as electrification and new aircraft arrive.
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Thought study
Cheyenne Regional growth strategy
An authored non-hub framework for growth, infrastructure gaps, and timing AAM without stranding capital — not a client engagement.
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Article
AI-enhanced airports as regional economic catalysts (SFO case)
How AI across airport pillars can support connectivity, tenants, and regional prosperity.
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Article
Autonomous vehicles and short-haul domestic flights
How mode-shift pressure could reshape regional airports — and where RAM/eVTOL fits the response.
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Article
Fusion plant siting and NPIAS airport opportunities
Screening note on compatible non-aeronautical energy uses at land-rich NPIAS sites.
Why a3i
Boutique dual-domain specialist
One principal who joins today’s airport systems with Advanced Air Mobility — operator experience on one side, systems-level analysis on the other.
Operator DNA × systems analysis
Advice from someone who has run airport organizations and published the Trust Fund and RAM analyses sponsors and DOTs use when growth and readiness collide.
Funding realism
NPIAS-, AIP-, and Trust Fund–aware plans — so AAM readiness doesn’t strand capital.
Principal accountability
One advisor for sponsors and DOTs — specialist and agile, not a big-firm bench and not OEM slideware.
About
The principal
Richard Walsh, M.Sc., A.A.E., is the principal of a3i global — a boutique consultancy whose work lies at the intersection of today’s airport systems and Advanced Air Mobility. Specialist and agile: dual-domain depth without big-firm overhead. Sponsors, DOTs, cities, and primes engage him for systems-level strategies that position clients for economic growth — not as an OEM voice and not as a demand modeller.
Operator roles span Palm Springs International (Director of Aviation); San Francisco International (Associate Deputy Director, Planning and Environmental); the Allegheny County Airport Authority (Pittsburgh International and Allegheny County Airport); and New York State DOT aviation system planning (including Stewart and Republic). That stack is the job: FAR Part 139; the FAA Advisory Circular 150-series; Airport Capital Improvement Plans (ACIP); the Airport and Airway Trust Fund; and the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS). Sweet spot: resource-constrained GA and other NPIAS airports in a capital-intensive environment — alongside Part 139 facilities — where understanding the environment and finding solution sets in the challenge space still unlocks growth for the airport and surrounding community.
Research and thought leadership at NASA — including Concept of Operations work for Advanced Air Mobility across Convergent Aeronautics Solutions (CAS) and the NASA Aeronautics Research Institute (NARI) — plus published analysis on Trust Fund electrification and Regional Air Mobility infrastructure. That body of work is evidence of systems capability clients can use, not a claim of agency backing.
Contact
Talk with Richard
Airport and AAM readiness advisory for sponsors, DOTs, cities, and primes.