On Airport First: Early Observations on Advanced Air Mobility in Arizona

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) is often described through images of rooftop vertiports and new landing facilities embedded in dense urban environments. Those concepts continue to shape longer term discussions about where the technology may ultimately land. At the same time, early implementation conversations are frequently returning to a more familiar place: existing public airports, where aviation planning and governance decisions tend to occur first.

This is not an effort to predict how AAM technology, certification standards, or operating models will evolve. The focus here is land use and governance. Drawing on experience with airport planning and local approval processes, this article explores why public airports may play an early role in how AAM infrastructure is introduced in Arizona and other states, and why decisions made on airport property may influence later proposals beyond airport boundaries.

That focus comes from genuine enthusiasm for AAM and its potential. AAM presents real opportunities for transportation innovation, economic development, and system efficiency. Early attention to planning and governance is not about restraint for its own sake, but about creating conditions where new aviation uses can develop smoothly and earn lasting public confidence.

Why Existing Airports Often Come First

When new aviation uses emerge, public airports often become early points of consideration. This is not because airports are always ideal, but because they already operate within a defined aviation framework.

Public airports function in managed airspace and under established procedures. Airport sponsors regularly work with aeronautical users, regulators, and surrounding communities. From a land use perspective, that existing context matters. It reduces the number of unresolved issues that must be addressed before limited activity can begin.

Airports also tend to have physical characteristics that allow incremental change. Many facilities already include secure areas, apron space, access roads, and utility infrastructure. Not every airport will be suitable for AAM activity, but introducing limited aviation infrastructure at an existing airport is a familiar exercise for airport sponsors and planners. Proposing aviation activity at a non aviation site is often not.

Governance plays a role as well. Airports are managed systems. Sponsors rely on master plans, Airport Layout Plans, leases, operating agreements, and use restrictions to introduce and regulate aeronautical uses. These tools allow uses to be tested and adjusted over time without requiring immediate, wholesale changes to zoning codes.

Arizona’s statewide airport system amplifies this dynamic. With approximately 67 publicly owned, public use airports serving a wide range of roles, the state offers multiple environments in which early AAM concepts can be evaluated based on local conditions.

State Planning Signals

Arizona’s enactment of SB 1307 reflects a shift from theoretical interest to active planning discussion. The legislation directs the Arizona Department of Transportation to account for vertiports, electric aircraft charging, and related infrastructure in the statewide aviation plan, and to develop educational and technical resources for local and regional decision makers.

The statute does not establish siting requirements or local approval standards. Instead, it signals that AAM is now a topic appropriate for coordinated planning. That distinction matters. Planning signals create momentum while preserving room for local interpretation and adaptation.

An Early Airport Sponsor Example: Phoenix

Recent actions by the City of Phoenix Aviation Department provide a useful example of how early AAM planning is beginning to take shape at the airport sponsor level. After a year long effort, the Aviation Department released a publicly available framework summarizing how advanced air mobility could potentially be introduced across Phoenix’s airport system (City of Phoenix Aviation Department, Dec. 18, 2025).

According to the published framework and executive summary materials, the Aviation Department identified sufficient airport owned land across Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Phoenix Deer Valley Airport, and Phoenix Goodyear Airport to potentially support AAM related activity, subject to future planning and infrastructure work. Different conceptual roles are outlined for each facility, ranging from passenger or cargo activity to innovation oriented uses and maintenance functions.

Importantly, the framework does not announce projects or approve facilities. It is expressly conceptual. The emphasis is on sequencing and readiness: utility planning to address electrical demand, coordination with electric utilities, updates to Airport Layout Plans and related federal review, continued public and stakeholder engagement, and early design and permitting considerations.

From a land use perspective, the framework is notable less for what it commits to than for how it frames early decision making. Infrastructure readiness, governance tools, and interagency coordination are emphasized before visible deployment. That approach is consistent with how airports have historically absorbed new aviation uses.

Managing AAM on Airport Property

If early AAM facilities are introduced on airport property, they are likely to be managed through familiar airport tools. Planning documents and Airport Layout Plans will influence siting and layout. Operating agreements may address shared infrastructure and coordination among users. While the application may be new, the governance structure is not.

At some airports, early siting and access decisions may carry added weight. Space near terminal areas or ground access points is often constrained, and early agreements can shape expectations. In those settings, initial decisions may matter more for precedent than for immediate scale.

These issues also sit at the intersection of airport governance and local context. Airport sponsors operate within federal and state aviation frameworks, but they also function within local political and planning environments. Successful integration requires attention to both.

Why Airport Decisions Matter Beyond the Fence

On airport activity rarely remains isolated. Ground access, traffic, parking demand, and public perception frequently extend into surrounding communities.

As AAM concepts are introduced, even on a limited basis, nearby residents and decision makers are likely to ask broader questions. How often will activity occur? How might it change over time? What does early activity signal about future proposals elsewhere? These questions arise regardless of where a facility is located.

Early coordination helps frame those conversations. Communication between airport sponsors and local planning staff can reduce surprise and help situate AAM within a longer term transportation discussion rather than as a series of isolated facilities.

Waiting for visible deployment often narrows options. Early decisions at major airports tend to shape expectations quickly and can influence how new aviation uses are understood before local planning frameworks are fully developed.

A Measured Path Forward

Arizona’s airport system, combined with emerging statewide planning direction and early airport sponsor frameworks, creates a setting where AAM concepts can be explored incrementally. An on airport approach is not required and will not be appropriate in every case, but it represents one plausible early pathway.

The more important question may be how early decisions are made and explained. How those decisions are documented, sequenced, and communicated can influence expectations well beyond the first facilities.

Approaching AAM as an extension of existing airport systems allows communities and sponsors to adapt as technology and regulation evolve. For a new category of aviation use, that flexibility may be one of the most valuable tools available.