Air To Build eVTOL Aircraft at Florida’s SunTrax Hub

Israeli electric aircraft developer Air plans to begin manufacturing eVTOL aircraft in Florida by the end of this year under a partnership with the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), the company announced on August 11.

The company will establish its U.S. headquarters, production facility, and flight operations hub at SunTrax, the state transportation department’s research and development campus in Auburndale, near Orlando. It has already moved into a roughly 20,000-sq-ft space on the 775-acre SunTrax campus, where the company hopes to expand its footprint as operations grow.

Air intends to produce two eVTOL models in the U.S.: the two-seat Air One light sport aircraft and an uncrewed, heavy-lift cargo variant, the first example of which it has already delivered to a launch customer in Israel. Flight testing for both programs will move to SunTrax from West Palm Beach, where Air has been flying since last August. 

“Advanced air mobility is entering a new phase in the United States, moving from aircraft development toward production and real-world operations,” said Air co-founder and CEO Rani Plaut. He noted that Florida’s aviation ecosystem and Air’s base of more than 300 customers in the Sunshine State made the move a logical next step.

On August 10, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appeared at SunTrax to promote the campus, speaking alongside a full-scale example of the two-seat Air One. “By the end of this year, Florida will be actively testing electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, while SunTrax Air Ground is actively testing and supporting the deployment of autonomous and connected vehicles,” he said. 

FDOT owns and operates SunTrax, which the agency describes as “a first‑of‑its‑kind research and development facility built to combine both air and ground transportation testing within a single campus.” Located in Polk County along the Interstate 4 corridor, the 212-acre SunTrax Air campus offers dedicated airspace, vertiports, high-speed charging stations, maintenance hangars, and what FDOT calls the nation’s first advanced air mobility (AAM) aerial test track.

State officials have positioned Florida for a national role in eVTOL rulemaking. The FAA selected the state to help develop safety and operational policies through its eVTOL Integration Pilot Program, with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University conducting supporting research. FDOT has also partnered with Embry-Riddle and Polk State College on training and credentialing for pilots, maintenance technicians, and engineers.

Eve Air Mobility announced its own SunTrax initiative at the Farnborough International Airshow last month, when Florida officials said the facility would support the Embraer spinoff’s plans to launch eVTOL air taxi services in the state.

Certification Pending

Air has yet to certify the Air One, which the company is pursuing as a light sport aircraft under the FAA’s MOSAIC (Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification) rules. It expects to achieve certification by the end of this year. The regulatory path firmed up in July, when the FAA accepted the final set of ASTM consensus standards for light sport powered-lift aircraft, which took effect on July 24. Air must still demonstrate that the Air One complies with those standards.

Air unveiled its latest Air One configuration at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh on July 20, and said the aircraft was built to support piloted flight testing “later this year.” That version carries an airframe engineered by German firm EDAG, custom Nidec motors, a redesigned battery, and Dynon Avionics’ SkyView HDX flight display. 

“We are actively building out a local team that will scale with the program and support continuous flight testing as we advance toward production,” a company spokesperson told AIN. “SunTrax will provide an ideal environment for this next phase, and we’re excited to establish a long-term presence in Florida where customers, stakeholders, and aviation enthusiasts will be able to see the next generation of aviation taking shape firsthand.”

According to Air, more than 4,000 customers sit on the Air One waitlist, up from about 3,300 in March, when the company surpassed $1 billion in orders across its portfolio. Roughly 350 customers had placed pre-delivery deposits as of March, and the company stopped accepting new deposits in 2025 pending certification.

The cargo program has accounted for most of Air’s revenue to date, generating more than $35 million, primarily from the aircraft, ground control stations, service packages, and parts. Air reported 25 deposit-backed orders for the heavy-lift aircraft earlier this year. Air markets that aircraft to defense and logistics customers as a Group 4 UAS with a 550-pound payload and a 70-cubic-foot cargo bay.

NTSB Completes Crash Investigation

The FAA issued an experimental airworthiness certificate for the Air One family in September 2025. Weeks later, an uncrewed full-scale demonstrator, registered N514AX, crashed on approach to Indiantown Airport (X58) in Florida and burned beyond repair.

On July 30, the NTSB published its final report, attributing the accident to a cascading shutoff of multiple aft motors during maneuvering that led to a loss of control. The board found that one aft motor likely shut down after an irregular electrical current spike caused by a sudden load increase. That shutdown shifted load onto adjacent aft motors and shut those down as well. Thrust from the forward motors continued, and the aircraft pitched up abruptly, then fell sideways to the ground. Air’s own testing for the investigation showed the motors were designed to shut themselves off when current spikes that way, and that hard maneuvering can cause the spike.

Leading up to the crash, the remote pilot had already been hurrying to land. Motor temperatures hit 90 degrees C on the second lap of the pattern, and the pilot tightened his turn to get down sooner, according to statements Air employees gave investigators. A maintenance technician who watched from the ground said the aircraft pitched up moments after the pilot switched into hover mode—the point where the aircraft shifts from flying like an airplane to holding itself in the air, and where the load on the motors changes abruptly.

The NTSB identified the aircraft as an Air VEV Zero 2, built in 2024, with eight electric motors from Czech supplier MGM Compro. The Air One that the company showed at Oshkosh in July and intends to certify uses Nidec motors, so the hardware blamed for the crash does not carry over to what the company plans to build at SunTrax.

In the weeks after the accident, an Air spokesperson told AIN the company anticipated “no delays or setbacks,” and said the takeaways would be built into production aircraft. Nine months later, Air has set itself a crowded year-end deadline in Florida: certifying the Air One, starting piloted flight testing, and opening a production line, all at a site it moved into weeks ago.