The commercialization of air taxis and autonomous passenger drones will one day congest urban airspace. Operators expect that, once flights are autonomous and the cost of service falls, high traffic urban “vertiports” could see hundreds of air taxi takeoffs and landings per hour. Low...

The commercialization of air taxis and autonomous passenger drones will one day congest urban airspace. Operators expect that, once flights are autonomous and the cost of service falls, high-traffic urban “vertiports” could see hundreds of air taxi takeoffs and landings per hour....

For most of its history, commercial aviation has tended toward large airplanes, large airports, and rigidly scheduled flights. Now, however, two phenomena—technological innovation and long-term societal changes accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic—are creating an environment in which many...