New study proposes unified eVTOL corridor framework after reviewing 2,039 papers

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) aims to reduce urban congestion and emissions using electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles. However, corridor design, operation management, and separation standards remain underexamined for safe high-density operations. To address this, a team of researchers applied the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines to systematically review relevant literature from IEEE Xplore and Web of Science. Using the Context, Intervention, Mechanism, and Outcome (CIMO) framework to develop research questions, they screened 2,039 journal and conference papers published between 2010 and 2024. After rigorous filtering, 62 articles met all inclusion criteria.

The review highlights significant shortcomings: a lack of integrated corridor design approaches, limited operational strategies for high-density air traffic, and an over-reliance on separation standards originally developed for conventional aviation. These gaps pose risks for safe eVTOL deployment in urban environments. To mitigate these issues, the authors propose unified corridor design and separation definition frameworks alongside comprehensive taxonomies. These frameworks aim to standardize how corridors are planned, managed, and regulated, providing a foundation for future research and operational guidelines. The study is published in the IEEE Open Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems and is also available on arXiv (2026).