Air Mobility: The Buzz in Paris.

• Author: Heckmann, Laura

PARIS--After four years away, the Paris Air Show returned to Le Bourget Airport in June with its usual showcase of aerospace prowess from across the globe, but one corner of the sprawling exhibition space looked a little different.

Making its debut at the show was Paris Air Mobility, a three-day event featuring an entire suite dedicated to air mobility programming and a stage for demonstrations and discussions about the rapidly emerging sector of the aerospace industry.

Advanced air mobility is a collection of new and emerging technologies in aviation transportation, or "anything that's relatively non-conventionally powered," such as electric, hybrid electric or hydrogen, said Daniel Williams, senior manager of commercial fleet, flight and forecast data for Aviation Week, during a pre-show webinar.

Paris Air Mobility focused on electric vertical takeoff and landing, or eVTOL, vehicles, which were not confined to the stage.

Prototypes of all shapes and sizes lined the Paris exhibition halls--sometimes even hovering overhead. Companies from around the world displayed their eye-catching designs, mostly selling them as quiet, low-pollution transport methods that will revolutionize travel.

While bussing travelers high above congested traffic was a dominant topic, air taxis weren't the only direction companies were taking the electric vehicles.

Blue Spirit Aero's Dragonfly, a four-seat, zero-emission, hydrogen-fueled electric vertical takeoff and landing system, could be used as a training vehicle for flight schools, said a company official.

The France-based company uses what is called distributed electric propulsion, with 12 electric propulsion units mounted across two wings, integrating its own hydrogen electric propulsion chain.

"As you can imagine, hydrogen is extremely powerful," Harsh Singhal, an aerodynamics engineer for Blue Spirit Aero, said in an interview on the sidelines of the air show. "[We've] found the right solution to extract the power, that energy, from hydrogen... and make it go 700 kilometers."

Down the aisle, a Netherlands-based company demonstrated a prototype aimed at maritime logistics.

The Speeder Systems S30 model, a brightly painted red and white prototype about the size of a small rowboat, was designed to deliver cargo long distances over water, Erdem Kazakh, the company's managing director and co-founder, said in an interview.

The design uses a principle called "ground effect," in which the vehicle flies...