Analysis of cost-efficient urban air mobility systems: Optimization of operational and configurational fleet decisions

•We build an optimization model to analyze cost-efficient flight operations of a UAM fleet and define several vehicle-specific decision variables and constraints.•We simulate individual vehicle energy consumption as a function of the decision variables and evaluate the impact based on the total cost of ownership approach.•We evaluate vehicle parameters based on sensitivity studies by prescribing both conservative and progressive technology scenarios.•For the study area, assuming state-of-the-art vehicles, fast chargers, and current battery technologies, we can demonstrate the feasibility of a UAM system where the cost per simulated UAM trip is approximately US-$ 1.82/pax-km.•Based on UAM demand and the optimized cost structure, we note that vehicle dispatching provides additional cost reduction potential.