Vertical Aerospace expects to certificate its VX4 air taxi concurrently with the UK and Europe, with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency agreeing to validate UK Civil Aviation Authority type certification of the electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft.
As it ground-tests a 2-megawatt electric motor with the intent of converting a 100-seat regional jet to zero-emission propulsion, Wright Electric has received a U.S. Air Force contract to modify the technology into a lightweight, high-power generator as a battlefield recharger for electrified vehicles.
BAE Systems plans to provide energy-management components, including the battery and cabling, for the megawatt-class hybrid electric propulsion system being developed by GE Aviation under the recently awarded NASA Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration project.
New Zealand’s Ocean Flyer, a new company formed by the owner of small charter operator Air Napier, has placed firm deposits with U.S. startup Regent for 25 sea-skimming electric seagliders for harbor-to-harbor overwater regional transportation.
Despite advances in electric propulsion and battery energy density, as well as a patent filing showing its interest in hybrid-electric systems, Bell is taking a more conventional route to AFWerx’s High-Speed Vertical Takeoff and Landing Challenge.
Management changes are not unusual as companies go through their different phases of growth, but Archer Aviation’s April 19 announcement that co-founder and co-CEO Adam Goldstein had been named the startup’s sole CEO came as a surprise to many.
Safran is gaining experience in electric propulsion, testing prototypes and studying aircraft architectures as it positions itself as the supplier of a full range of motors for all-electric and hybrid propulsion systems, from light aircraft to narrowbodies.
A potential order for five electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft by the U.S. Air Force in fiscal 2023 may not register on lists of the largest customers for the flying taxi industry, but could still have a major impact on the experimental technology.
As manufacturers progress toward type certification of their electric air taxis, preparations for production are gathering pace. And the industry leaders are taking different approaches.
As Dana Jensen, senior industrial policy analyst, keeps watch over the development of advanced air mobility vehicles and their supply chains through the lens of the U.S. Air Force Agility Prime initiative, he has a recurring thought.
Advanced air mobility’s OEMs held their positions for the April listing of the AAM Reality Index, developed by SMG Consulting in partnership with Aviation Week.
What a journey across town in an autonomous air taxi could look like, flying through airspace shared with drones and piloted aircraft, is revealed in a new concept of operations for urban air mobility produced by Wisk Aero and vertiports developer Skyports.
Formalizing a relationship first announced at the Paris Air Show in 2019, U.S. regional airline Cape air has signed a letter of intent (LOI) with Eviation Aircraft for the purchase of 72 Alice electric aircraft.
Zanite Acquisition has beefed up the committed funding that is backing its planned going-public merger with Eve, Embraer’s urban air mobility spinoff, as it heads into a May 6 shareholder vote on the deal.
In August 2019 I wrote in Aviation Week & Space Technology about how the electronic vertical takeoff and landing sector was a hot topic in the industry.
Honeywell has started testing reaction time differences between expert pilots and novices on its prototype simplified vehicle operation cockpit system for electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
Bcomp, a Swiss startup producing composites using natural fibers, has received an investment from Airbus Ventures as part of a CHF34 million ($35 million) Series B financing round led by BMW i Ventures.
A hybrid-electric power system designed for applications ranging from drones to uncrewed cargo aircraft and passenger air taxis has been unveiled by startup LaunchPoint Electric Propulsion Solutions.
