Saudi Arabia\u2019s security, stability, investment environment and advanced infrastructure are positioning the Kingdom as a promising market for the development of next-generation automated air mobility, according to Yvonne Winter, CEO of FlyNow Arabia and president of the Sky Alliance for Automated Air Mobility.<\/p>\n
Winter made the remarks during the Security and History Dialogue Conference in Riyadh, held at the Cultural Palace in the Diplomatic Quarter under the theme \u201cOur History and Our Future: Security and Prosperity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The three-day event brings together officials, scholars, experts and international leaders to examine the relationship between national security, economic growth and social development.<\/p>\n
Winter emphasized the direct connection between security and the ability to attract long-term investment into emerging industries.<\/p>\n
Companies developing entirely new forms of transportation, she explained, need confidence that they are operating in a secure and stable environment capable of supporting development over many years.<\/p>\n
Investors also need clarity over future regulations, infrastructure development and the institutional capacity required to support emerging industries.<\/p>\n
For companies working on new mobility technologies, Winter said, these factors are critical to securing the confidence of investors and strategic partners willing to commit significant capital.<\/p>\n
FlyNow Arabia is developing modular electric aircraft known as e-copters, designed for applications including medical evacuation, firefighting, cargo delivery and passenger transportation.<\/p>\n
The company recently acquired a majority stake in its former Austrian entity before moving its global headquarters to Riyadh.<\/p>\n
Winter confirmed that FlyNow Arabia also intends to establish manufacturing operations in the Kingdom.<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia, she said, will serve as the company’s launch market and a platform from which it can expand to global markets.<\/p>\n
The company\u2019s founders believe the Kingdom offers the right environment to develop the technology, establish the supporting ecosystem and ultimately export the solution internationally.<\/p>\n
Winter described Saudi Arabia as particularly well positioned to develop advanced air mobility, citing its forward-looking leadership, young and highly educated population, market scale and growing demand for new transportation solutions.<\/p>\n
She also pointed to the Kingdom\u2019s financial capacity to build the ecosystem required to introduce an entirely new mode of transportation.<\/p>\n
That ecosystem extends far beyond aircraft manufacturing and includes infrastructure, airspace management, communications, digital systems, safety mechanisms, regulations and operational services.<\/p>\n
The expansion of advanced air mobility will require a new approach to the use of low-altitude airspace, according to Winter.<\/p>\n
She said the sector could eventually involve thousands of aircraft and aerial vehicles operating every year, including air taxis, emergency-response aircraft and cargo vehicles.<\/p>\n
Such a future would require a sophisticated infrastructure capable of coordinating air traffic while ensuring safety, connectivity, real-time data management and operational control.<\/p>\n
The aircraft themselves would therefore represent only one component of a much larger mobility ecosystem.<\/p>\n
During a special address at the conference, Winter also discussed international partnerships and the importance of maintaining national sovereignty over critical mobility infrastructure and systems.<\/p>\n
She stressed that sovereignty does not mean isolation and that Saudi Arabia can cooperate with European, American and Asian companies, including global technology leaders.<\/p>\n
However, she argued that architecture, governance, operational authority and critical data should remain under Saudi control.<\/p>\n
The issue is particularly significant for automated air mobility, where thousands of connected aircraft could depend on digital platforms for navigation, communication, scheduling, monitoring and operational decision-making.<\/p>\n
Maintaining national control over critical digital infrastructure, she said, allows countries to benefit from global innovation without creating strategic dependency.<\/p>\n
The panel \u201cSecurity and Investment: A Safe Nation and an Industry of Opportunities\u201d also featured Royal Court Adviser Dr. Majid Al-Moneef, who emphasized the close relationship between security and economic growth.<\/p>\n
He argued that security is essential for growth, while economic growth contributes to development by generating the resources needed to build infrastructure and strengthen the foundations of future expansion.<\/p>\n
The discussion examined how sovereign stability can support industrial development, encourage innovation and give investors greater confidence to finance emerging technologies over the long term.<\/p>\n
FlyNow Arabia\u2019s plans form part of the broader Advanced Air Mobility sector, which extends well beyond the popular concept of flying taxis.<\/p>\n
The industry includes electric and automated aircraft that could support passenger transportation, logistics, emergency response and medical evacuation.<\/p>\n
If these technologies achieve large-scale commercial adoption, they could transform mobility in urban areas and locations where traditional transportation infrastructure is difficult or inefficient to deploy.<\/p>\n
However, widespread adoption will require progress across multiple areas, including safety, air-traffic management, charging and maintenance infrastructure, regulation, public acceptance and cybersecurity.<\/p>\n
FlyNow Arabia\u2019s decision to move its global headquarters to Riyadh and plan local manufacturing reflects a broader ambition to position the Kingdom as a hub for developing advanced technologies rather than simply a market for deploying them.<\/p>\n
Building a successful advanced air mobility sector requires manufacturers, technology companies, infrastructure developers, regulators, investors, research institutions and skilled talent to operate as part of a connected ecosystem.<\/p>\n
For Saudi Arabia, the arrival of specialized companies could create opportunities to develop a local value chain covering research and development, manufacturing, operations, maintenance, digital services and data management.<\/p>\n
FlyNow Arabia sees Saudi Arabia as more than a domestic market for its technology. The company aims to use the Kingdom as a platform from which to develop and eventually export advanced mobility solutions internationally.<\/p>\n
With plans to manufacture its aircraft in Saudi Arabia, the company\u2019s ambition extends beyond launching electric aircraft to building an integrated industry around automated air mobility.<\/p>\n
The development also reflects a broader shift in the future of transportation, where competition may increasingly involve entire mobility ecosystems combining electrification, artificial intelligence, automation, data and smart infrastructure.<\/p>\n
As governments and technology companies around the world compete to shape the next generation of air transportation, Saudi Arabia is positioning security, stability, investment capacity and infrastructure development as key foundations for becoming a platform for the future of advanced air mobility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Saudi Arabia\u2019s security, stability, investment environment and advanced infrastructure are positioning the Kingdom as a promising market for the development of next-generation automated air mobility, according to Yvonne Winter, CEO of FlyNow Arabia and president of the Sky Alliance for Automated Air Mobility. Winter made the remarks during the Security and History Dialogue Conference in Riyadh, held at the Cultural Palace in the Diplomatic Quarter under the theme \u201cOur History and Our Future: Security and Prosperity.\u201d The three-day event brings together officials, scholars, experts and international leaders to examine the relationship between national security, economic growth and social development. Security<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58802,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12852],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-finance"],"yoast_head":"\n