The new unit is independent from the OEM, which was deemed necessary to give Airbus Urban Mobility the nimbleness to react in the dynamic advanced air mobility market.
Yeager Airport in Charleston, West Virginia, is going all-in to develop a complete system to support electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing air service, through new partnerships.
For Honda, development of a mobility ecosystem centered on an electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) air taxi, will be a key step toward transforming the automaker from a product manufacturer into a system developer and service provider.
Electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) air-taxi developer Overair has begun full-scale ground tests of the 20-ft.-dia. rotor system that will power a flying demonstrator of the company’s Butterfly quad-tiltrotor starting late in 2022 or early in 2023.
High-speed vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft developer Transcend Air is conducting ground tests of its Vy 400 tiltwing concept at a drag-racing venue near its Boston headquarters while continuing to raise funds to support full-scale development.
The tests, which involved a piloted flight by Volocopter’s prototype air taxi, demonstrated the service operating model and air traffic management integration.
Startup Archer Aviation has transported its Maker technology demonstrator to a flight test center in California in preparation for a first hover flight of the electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle before year’s end.
Satellite operator Iridium announced on Nov. 10 that its Certus 100 satellite communications service is now commercially available for aviation and other applications.
Existing composite materials and manufacturing processes will not scale to the production volumes envisioned for advanced air mobility and startups should consider collaborating to qualify new technologies, urges a company formed to help companies scale up manufacturing.
Zero-emissions propulsion startup Universal Hydrogen has signed an agreement with a clean-energy subsidiary of Australian mining company Fortescue Metals Group to secure a supply of green hydrogen through to 2035.
Norwegian regional airline Wideroe is continuing its journey toward introducing zero-emissions aircraft, signing an agreement with Embraer’s Eve subsidiary to study electric vertical takeoff and landing operations in Scandinavia.
South Korean automaker Hyundai has renamed its urban air mobility division Supernal and plans to begin certification of its electric air taxi in the U.S. in 2024, aiming to launch commercial flights in 2028.
Airbus Helicopters has performed what it claims to be the first helicopter flight on 100% sustainable aviation fuel, albeit powering only one of the two engines on the H225 testbed.
Startup ZeroAvia has partnered with India’s Hindustan Aeronautics to develop a supplemental type certificate for its conversion of the 19-passenger Dornier 228 regional turboprop to hydrogen-electric propulsion.
U.S.-based satellite communications provider Viasat on Nov. 8 announced a definitive agreement to acquire UK-based Inmarsat in a transaction valued at $7.3 billion that would create an unrivaled, multiband space and terrestrial network serving aviation, maritime and other markets.
The National Business Aviation Association hailed the final passage by the U.S. House of Representatives of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that contains measures to support efforts to attract and retain aviation workers, fund improvements for general aviation airports and spur next-generation programs.
Gur Kimchi, co-founder of Amazon’s drone delivery service Amazon Prime Air, has joined the board of directors at Near Earth Autonomy, which is working to develop safe and efficient autonomous flight capabilities.
U.S. House members on Nov. 4 passed a bipartisan bill in support of advanced air mobility that would establish an AAM interagency working group to review policies and make recommendations to further the technologies and infrastructure for the new transportation capability.
McKinsey & Co.’s Robin Riedel says approximately $12 billion in funding has flowed into advanced air mobility over the past decades, “a meaningful number.”
The family of Energia-branded concepts—with all-electric, hybrid-electric or hydrogen-fueled propulsion for low emissions and noise—are aimed to enter into service between 2030 and 2040.
