Lessors have played a major role in boosting the conditional orderbooks of electric aircraft startups, from Avolon’s preorder for 500 Vertical Aerospace four-passenger air taxis to Rockton’s letter of intent for 40 Heart Aerospace 30-seat regional airliners.
The Eurodrone medium altitude long endurance uncrewed aircraft system program has passed its Integrated Baseline Review, a key milestone toward upcoming design reviews.
Chinese startup AutoFlight has opened a U.S. office as it pursues plans to develop and certify its electric urban air taxi in Europe, manufacture the vehicle in China and market it globally.
Regent and TotalEnergies plan to explore the use of an electric seaglider to support the operations of offshore energy platforms such as oil rigs and wind turbines. The two companies plan to develop requirements and validate using one of Regent’s seagliders for offshore operations support, Regent said Sept. 30.
As calls grow within the advanced air mobility community for demonstrations that will show the public and policymakers the potential benefits of this new form of transportation, startup Electra.aero is making plans to fly its technology demonstrator between Washington and Richmond, the Virginia state capital.
Five startups emerged as winners from the pitch-style final of an urban air mobility innovation challenge sponsored by the Vertical Lift Consortium, a collaboration that supports the Defense Department.
Amid cautions from the United Nations (U.N.) concerning higher interest rates and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index experiencing its worst monthly drop since March 2020 in September, the month of October opened as better in general in terms of stock performance.
With the world’s advanced air mobility (AAM) industry watching EHang’s progress toward the first type certification of an autonomous air taxi, the Chinese startup has reported that the project specific certification plan for its two-seat EH216-S has been approved by the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
When Eve Holding launched its electric vertical takeoff and landing commuter flight demonstrations in Chicago, the goal was to gather as much data and information as possible to formulate what a future commuter operation would look like.
The FAA should clarify its certification requirements for advanced air mobility vehicles and work with the federal energy department to validate battery technology and develop a charging infrastructure for electric aircraft, aviation industry representatives say.
Already planning to develop an autonomous hydrogen-fueled air and road vehicle and associated landing and refueling infrastructure, U.S. startup LuftCar has announced plans to develop a fuel-cell/battery hybrid propulsion system for the advanced air mobility market.
Textron Aviation is to help startup ZeroAvia develop and certify a hydrogen-electric propulsion conversion for the Cessna 208B Grand Caravan single-turboprop utility aircraft.
One of the more unusual designs for an urban air taxi—Spanish company Umiles Next’s “drone-of-drones” Concept Integrity—has conducted flight tests at the Onera Test Field in Toulouse.
Business aviation operators are eager to get their hands on advanced air mobility platforms, but infrastructure uncertainties may slow their introduction, panel discussion participants at the Air Charter Expo say.
Electra.aero conducted the first flight of its Dawn One solar-battery hybrid-electric research aircraft at its new development facility at Manassas Regional Airport in Virginia on Sept. 9.
MintAir, a startup that plans to become an advanced air mobility operator in South Korea, has signed a letter of intent with Electra.aero to acquire 50 electric short takeoff and landing aircraft for passenger and cargo regional air mobility services.
