Volocopter Chases Approval of Light Sports eVTOL Aircraft

Volocopter believes it remains on track to receive regulatory approval of its VoloXPro eVTOL later this year under EASA's Light Sport Aircraft category. The German company is seeking to bring the 'slimmed down' version of its eVTOL design to market as it endeavors to achieve full type certification of the two-seat VoloCity aircraft. 

The VoloCity program was delayed due to the threat of bankruptcy in late 2024 and the company is now trying to get back on track following its acquisition by the Chinese parent company of Austria-based Diamond Aircraft in March 2025. Late last year, its new owners acknowledged deficiencies in the existing Volocopter setup and has been seeking to restructure the venture.

Diamond Aircraft CEO David Bausek told AIN that the outcome of Volocopter's insolvency process had put it in "a better position to restructure and reorganise than if we’d been the tender in the intervention.” 

Over the next 15 to 20 years, Bausek predicted that the proliferation of vertiports at smaller airports will transform the general aviation sector and create positive synergies for Diamond's product range. "We can combine the range of the Diamond [fixed-wing] aircraft and the [vertical take off capabilities] of Volocopter into one product, and basically fuse everything.”  

For the time being, however, “our idea is very clear: finish the project,” clarified Bausek. With a consolidated team centralized at Bruschal, southwest Germany, Volocopter believes its vertically-integrated approach is also essential to future iterations of the product.

“The idea is we make ourselves capable as an independent organization,” explained Bausek, adding that the new subsidiary is committed to Diamond’s ethos of “bringing aviation to everybody."

VoloXPro: a Reimagined 2X

Central to this ambition is Volocopter’s Volo XPro: an evolution of its original two-seat Volo 2X eVTOL concept. This will target the light sports aircraft (or ‘ultralight’) segment of the owner-operator general aviation market with a maximum take off weight of 600 kilograms (1,323 pounds), placing it at the very top weight limit for the category. Although the XPro retains the multicopter's 18-rotor architecture, the main difference is that the XPro need not include the equivalent level of redundancy required for commercial certification.

However, Volocopter is confident its eVTOL will be able to sustain flight with up to three rotor motor failures. The 2X’s 60 volt electrical system has been upgraded to 300-400 volts in the XPro, which is a change Bausek said “increases the level of safety…. and also makes it more attractive in terms of efficiency.” Crucially, commonality between the 2X and commercial variants will also help the later “achieve a bigger volume and faster time to type certification” while providing the 2X with “the robustness of [an EASA] CS-23 or CS-25 aircraft.”

Laboratory testing for the XPro is around 60- to -70% complete, with Volocopter also initiating a sandbox with the local authority to enable local passenger-carrying demonstration flights. Order books will open mid-2026 with a list price of around €500,000 ($585,000).

Volocopter envisions conversion training will include around two to three hours on its full-motion mixed-reality simulator. Following domestic regulatory approval, with Chinese permissions being pursued concurrently, Volocopter intends to initiate proceedings under the FAA MOSAIC framework from mid-2026.

Work also continues in parallel on the €2 million ($2.34 million) two-seat VoloCity, with a maximum takeoff weight of 1,050 kilograms (3,300 pounds). Volocopter aims to certify under the EASA SC-VTOL category: ideally this year, but something which could slip to 2027. A test aircraft is currently undergoing its handling qualities campaign, with hot and cold performance to be performed in the coming summer and winter respectively.

From the fourth quarter of this year, Volocopter aims to bring two more test aircraft into the fleet for beta testing and to help amass the requisite 150 hours of flight time. These units—currently in assembly—are also to be the first fully type-conforming prototypes.