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Looking Back, Looking Forward: Honeywell’s AAM Business Thriving After 5 Years
Looking Back, Looking Forward: Honeywell’s AAM Business Thriving After 5 Years
Though it may not be half the length of a traditional aerospace development program, five years is an eternity in AAM time.
In 2020, hundreds of aspiring Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) companies were raising capital, building teams and designing new kinds of aircraft to undertake unique missions and move people and things from one place to another. Regulatory frameworks were in their infancy and public awareness of AAM was practically nonexistent.
That was about the time former Honeywell Chairman and CEO Darius Adamczyk challenged then-Aerospace President Mike Madsen to determine how best to address this nascent opportunity and leverage Honeywell’s world-class portfolio of aerospace solutions.
Fast-forward to 2025, and the AAM industry is taking off and making headlines. Revenue-generating autonomous drone deliveries are occurring in select cities globally. Twenty-six electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) companies have booked 12,000 orders, and the AAM market has grown to $10 billion. Some manufacturers are already flying prototype and full-scale vehicles. Several are navigating the FAA certification process. Ninety-eight percent of U.S. frequent fliers say they are willing to ride in an air taxi ride. The first AAM vehicles are flying towards commercial service.
The past five years have also been eventful for Honeywell, according to Dave Shilliday, Vice President and General Manager of AAM.
From Four Employees to a Global Leader
“Honeywell formed its AAM business in mid-2020 with four employees, a lot of enthusiasm and the hypothesis that we would operate with the speed, agility and cost structure of an entrepreneurial startup,” Shilliday said.
“But we also could draw on the resources of Honeywell, one of the world’s most storied and most innovative aerospace companies. We truly have the best of both worlds, and that has made all the difference for our AAM business,” he added.
What may have seemed like a gamble five years ago has paid off for Honeywell, according to Taylor Alberstadt, Honeywell Global Sales and Account Management Leader for AAM. “Honeywell had the foresight to invest talent and dollars in this new market and the courage to try a radically different business model,” he said. “And, with unwavering internal support, we’re more than ready to go because we’ve already been at this for multiple years.”
Sapan Shah, Sr. Director of Product Management for AAM and Autonomy, joined the group a few months after it formed. He’s watched it grow into a cohesive team with support from hundreds of employees across the company now working on core and application AAM projects.
Welcome to the ‘How do You Solve a Problem’ Business
“It has been inspiring to be involved in the growth and expansion of the AAM business and see how it has impacted the rest of Honeywell Aerospace and the aviation world,” Shah said. “Our initial focus was on the Honeywell Anthem next-generation cockpit and flight controls, which enabled us to secure our first contracts in 2020 with Vertical Aerospace, Piasecki and Pipistrel.
“Now, we offer a broad range of products including both existing and modified aerospace technology as well as newly developed solutions that touch every aspect of aviation. These exciting new offerings include ground control stations and technologies to enable higher levels of flight autonomy and simplified vehicle operations,” he said.
An additional benefit of the rapid pace of AAM customers is that these Honeywell offerings benefit from multiple rounds of customer feedback in a shortened development cycle. Now those matured offerings are finding their way into defense and business aviation applications, with air transport next in line.
Honeywell is really in the “how do you solve a problem” business, according to Alberstadt. “We are collaborating with our customers, partners and regulators to do important things that have never been done before.”
AAM is Ready to Take Off for the Future
Amazing new crewed and autonomous aircraft are preparing to take flight and transform aviation forever. New rulemaking by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and passage of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 are encouraging. Positive signals from Congress and the new administration bode well for America’s AAM industry, which faces fierce competition from China.
Shilliday welcomes Honeywell’s outsized role as a thought leader in the AAM industry. “Working with our Government Relations team, we provided input to Congressional staffers working on the FAA Reauthorization Act and testified before a Senate subcommittee. We also bring stakeholders together for our Advanced Air Mobility Summit in Washington, DC each fall,” he said.
In the coming years, Honeywell technology will unlock missions that AAM vehicles are best suited to serve—from safely transporting first responders to accident scenes in uncrewed drones to keeping service members out of harm’s way, eliminating crushing daily commutes, and quickly delivering anything from prescriptions to pizzas to your doorstep.
“That doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what the future can look like. I don’t think we have even begun to envision all the ways AAM vehicles will impact everyday life in material, positive ways,” Alberstadt concluded.
Learn more about Honeywell Advanced Air Mobility.
[1] Advanced Air Mobility Market Size | Industry Report, 2033
