The Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) is launching the Neo K-UAM Grand Challenge (Neo GC) this week to prepare for the introduction of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) services.
The Neo GC initiative restructures existing demonstration projects into two core pillars: the advancement of technical validation and the testing of regional commercialisation. A briefing session for interested local governments, companies and organisations will be held in Seoul on 10 November.
MOLIT has been conducting the K-UAM Grand Challenge (GC) since 2023. It is a private-sector-led initiative to verify the safety and operational technologies required for UAM.
Tomorrow’s session will cover the restructuring of the project, participation procedures and the future roadmap. Additionally, the session will outline the purpose of and preparations for a partnering day, scheduled to take place in December.
Moving beyond the previous model, Neo GC’s approach shifts to a collaborative framework between the government and the private sector. It involves the integrated validation of both the technologies and the operational systems required for commercialisation. The plan involves using actual UAM aircraft to verify the integration of flight operations, traffic management and vertiport operations.
In addition, local governments, private companies and other stakeholders will collaborate to design UAM services tailored to specific regional needs and characteristics, such as inter-regional connectivity, airport links or tourism, and will verify the feasibility of actual flight and service operations in a phased manner.
Neo GC will define specific flight routes, take-off and landing facilities and operational models for each region. MOLIT says the results of these demonstrations are intended to lead to pilot projects and full-scale commercialisation.
Under the new framework, local governments will be responsible for identifying regional demand, establishing infrastructure and providing the necessary administrative environment, while private companies and relevant organisations will handle specialised technical aspects and business execution, such as aircraft operations, traffic management and facility management. MOLIT is planning a partnering day to help local governments, businesses and other entities identify potential partners and form consortia.
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