A new wave of small electric aircraft, mostly with a capacity for between two and six passengers and a range of little more than 100 nm, has become the most hyped aspect of aviation’s precocious advanced air mobility (AAM) sector. The new eVTOL vehicles will vie for attention alongside much larger aircraft at this year’s Farnborough International Airshow, pressing the case for early-stage commercial operations set to launch as soon as 2025.
The pool of viable eVTOL contenders is shrinking and several of them still in contention continue an urgent search of funding needed to get them to market while investors apply pressure for returns on their capital. The situation has created pinch-points, according to Robin Riedel, who co-leads consulting group McKinsey’s Center for Future Mobility. “With the AAM companies at the pre-revenue stage, many of them are too small for private equity [backers] and too big for early venture capital,” he told AIN.
At Singapore-based consultancy Alton Aviation, Joshua Ng also sees a crunch point in the competitive environment. “We are starting to see winners and losers, and those who are winning can demonstrate they have a lot of cash in the bank,” he commented. “Those that are not will need to start quickly demonstrating that they have something really exceptional to convince people they are worth investing in.”
That’s not to say the new sector of air transport will create a case of first-to-market-takes-all, and opportunities beyond the initial use cases continue to emerge. “If you have an ambition to be an aircraft OEM, the window of opportunity is closing,” Ng added. “But if you have a strong value proposition in terms of battery technology, propulsion systems, or avionics, you can still do a really good business if you have something that is your own IP, and we will see a lot more of that because you need a really good supply chain behind the OEMs to make the whole ecosystem work.”
UK-based Vertical Aerospace enjoys home field advantage this week as it works to bring its VX4 model to market in 2026 with a high-profile list of customers already including Virgin Atlantic, American Airlines, Japan Air Lines, and Bristow. Overall, the start-up has reported provisional sales from customers on four continents of about 1,500 aircraft valued as much as $6 billion, implying a unit price of around $4 million.
The recently completed second prototype features more hardware provided by key partners Honeywell, Leonardo, and GKN Aerospace. It also adopted new batteries from the company’s in-house Vertical Energy Centre at its Bristol headquarters and new propellers that Vertical has redesigned since the Aug. 9, 2023 crash that destroyed its first prototype.
The lessons learned from flight testing this aircraft at Kemble Airport in the west of England will apply in the construction of a third prototype that engineers will redesign to earn type certification credits with the UK Civil Aviation Authority, which is following EASA’s process for approving new eVTOL designs. Vertical’s key technology partners for the program include highly experienced aerospace groups including Rolls-Royce, GKN Aerospace, Honeywell, and Leonardo.
Car Makers Get on the eVTOL Band Wagon
Based in California and backed by major South Korean automotive group Hyundai, Supernal has made a far longer trip to Farnborough. It plans to unveil a full-scale mock-up of its S-A2 aircraft, which will carry a pilot and four passengers on flights of up to around 52 nm on a single electric charge, although many of its anticipated commercial missions will be as short as 22 to 35 nm. Expected to operate at around 1,500 feet at a cruise speed of 104 knots, the S-A2 will use batteries that take less than seven minutes to recharge.
The mock-up on show in Farnborough features the V-shaped tail, wings, and eight tilting rotors, as well as a reworked cabin featuring new seat frames with upgraded energy-absorbing materials designed for protection in the event of a hard landing. The latest S-A2 design also features new interior lighting.
Unlike its rival California start-up Joby Aviation, Supernal hasn't targeted entry-into-service next year, but rather has set its sights on FAA type certification in 2028. The company, which like Joby will initially operate its own aircraft in commercial service, aims to achieve a first flight with a technology demonstrator by the end of this year.
Joby is already advancing plans for series production of its still-unnamed four-passenger eVTOL model, with the establishment of a Pilot Production Line in Marina, California and the main factory planned in Dayton, Ohio. Like several other AAM pioneers, the company has lately formulated early use cases in markets such as the UAE, where Dubai awarded it an apparent monopoly on air taxi services.
Joby, which enjoys support from Toyota, in June acquired autonomous flight control system developer Xwing. For now, Joby’s eVTOL will be piloted, but the company sees Xwing’s technology under development for conversion of existing aircraft such as the Cessna Caravan as a path towards autonomous operations, which would further transform the economics of the eVTOL air taxi business model.
No Pilot Onboard
Boeing’s stake in the AAM sector hinges on its Wisk Aero subsidiary, which at Farnborough will display the sixth-generation eVTOL design it is preparing to start flight testing. The four-passenger vehicle would fly to a range of almost 80 nm and at a speed of 120 knots, but with no pilot onboard.
The California-based company, which started flying an eVTOL prototype in 2010, has since logged more than 1,700 flights. Management insists that only fully autonomous operations can make air taxi services commercially viable. Outside China, regulators have not yet defined a path for approving operations on that basis, but Wisk remains confident it can get what it calls its Gen 6 aircraft certified for use in IFR conditions.
Boeing’s main commercial aviation rival Airbus has taken its own approach to the AAM sector. In March it unveiled the first full-scale prototype of its CityAirbus NextGen eVTOL aircraft and wants to start flight testing from the program’s base at the Airbus Helicopters facility in Donauwörth, Germany. It already has started building a second prototype.
With a 12-meter (40-foot) wingspan, the CityAirbus vehicle features eight propulsion units, with four rotors mounted on the rear side of the wing for vertical lift, a pair of forward-facing propellers, and two pusher props installed on the tail. It developers mainly intended to operate flights of up to around 33 nm at 65 knots.
Last October, Airbus tested the so-called Millenium stick flight control system for use by CityAirbus pilots on its FlightLab helicopter testbed. The company wants to deploy its Vertex autonomous flight technology, including a new human-machine interface for the flight deck, to reduce single-pilot workload.
Unlike many eVTOL start-ups that have boldly promised investors commercial returns pegged to very ambitious target dates for type certification, Airbus has not published a program timeline but has indicated it expects to start deliveries by the end of this decade. Also, unlike some of the AAM sector pioneers, the European aerospace group will not operate the aircraft itself.
Air Ambulances and Cargo Could be First
According to Balkiz Sarihan, CEO of Airbus’s urban air mobility business unit, the first use cases for the CityAirbus will likely center on emergency medical services, tourism flights, and perhaps scheduled passenger routes. “The industry will have to prove itself before air taxi services are viable,” she told reporters in a briefing earlier this year.
Also in Germany, Lilium awaits calls from the federal government and Bavarian state officials to confirm some €100 million ($107 million) in fresh funding to complete ambitions to certify its four- to six-passenger Lilium Jet eVTOL by the end of 2025. To keep the project on track, the company needs to start flight testing for the EASA type certification process by the end of this year. It now is assembling the first production-conforming prototype at its headquarters near Munich.
Unlike most other eVTOL developers, Lilium directly targets wealthy private aviation customers. It recently confirmed a sales agreement with UK-based business jet operator Volare, which will operate up to 20 of the four-seat Pioneer Edition aircraft for private owners and make them available for charter flights. In May, it announced plans with partners to launch air taxi services across well-healed communities in France’s Côte d’Azur region.
At its headquarters in Wichita, Textron continues work on its first full-scale technology demonstrator for its planned Nexus eVTOL aircraft. The U.S. business aircraft manufacturer’s eAviation division aims to start flight testing the four-seat aircraft in 2025. Performance targets include a range of 100 nm and a cruise speed of 120 knots. The company will conduct flight tests at a new facility that Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research is building near McConnell Air Force Base.
The Nexus, which draws on expertise from Textron’s rotorcraft division Bell, is not the group’s only gambit in the AAM sector. Based on its 2022 acquisition of Slovenian electric aviation pioneer Pipistrel, the eAviation unit has nearly reached the start of flight testing of its hybrid-electric Nuuva V300 cargo drone.
Embraer-backed Eve Air Mobility now builds its first four-passenger eVTOL prototype at a new facility at Taubaté in Brazil’s São Paulo state. The company has advanced the program with little public fanfare but does claim to hold letters of intent for nearly 3,000 examples of the 52-nm-range aircraft.
Eve, which targets type certification in 2026, last month told reporters it cannot say exactly when it will conduct the first flight of the prototype because the plan hinges on “the alignment” of Brazil’s ANAC aviation regulator, as well as the FAA and EASA. “I think this is for the best,” Eve CEO, Johann Bordais said. “When it comes to safety, we’re really talking about putting people in the air in an air taxi operation. All of us [eVTOL developers] have these interests because we’re creating something new. And, by definition, you want to make sure it works from the very beginning.”
Bordais offered words of caution to rivals rushing to be first-to-market, cautioning that new operators will need to be well-prepared and have the right infrastructure in place. With Embraer’s backing, Eve has invested time and energy establishing partnerships to underpin the so-called AAM ecosystem, including air traffic management technology for low-altitude urban flights, which is the focus of the Brazilian group’s ATech subsidiary.
“We want to make sure that we deliver the right product safely and also [that it is] right for the operator,” Bordais said. “Let’s not forget the operator. He’s going to have to learn how to operate a 100% electric vehicle and how he puts this in a new operation or a current operation.”
Also assembled in the AAM presence at this year’s Farnborough, the UK start-up Arc Aerosystems continues work on a modernized version of the 1960s-era Avian Pegasus gyroplane, as well as a nine-seat compound helicopter called the Linx P9. It also has laid plans for a three-seat all-electric rotorcraft called the Linx P3 and the C-600 uncrewed eVTOL cargo aircraft. In June, the company secured an agreement with the Saudi government-backed Life Shield for around $400 million in funding for development work and manufacturing capability.
From Spain, Crisalion Mobility is presenting plans for a six-seat eVTOL design called the Integrity, which uses the company’s proprietary FlyFree propulsion and stability system. In June, the company signed a provisional sales agreement with Malaga-based business aircraft operator iJet, which plans to launch air taxi services in the Andalusia region with 10 of the aircraft.