FutureFlight

Joby and Delta Airlines have announced a partnership that will provide a further $200 million in capital for the eVTOL aircraft developer. The agreement also covers an initial five-year arrangement for Joby to provide flights in its four-passenger vehicles to carry Delta's customers to and from airports in New York and Los Angeles and potentially in the UK as well.

Marshall Aerospace, the UK aircraft modifications specialist, is diversifying into advanced air mobility by offering its expertise in complex engineering projects and managing both assets and services. The Cambridge-based group’s new Futureworx recently launched an autonomous vehicles operations partnership with drone manufacturer ISS Aerospace and software company Sees.ai in what it views as an expansion that could soon lead to further initiatives in areas such as hydrogen propulsion.

MintAir partnered with WeMap and the Korean city of Seongnam to develop a 4D map using voxelization techniques. It plans to use the advanced air mobility planning technology to participate in Korea's K-UAM Grand Challenge program in 2024 as part of preparations to operate new eVTOL and eSTOL aircraft.

For FutureFlight editor Hanneke Weitering, witnessing the long-awaited first flight of Eviation's Alice electric aircraft meant a trip from her Seattle area base to Moses Lake in Washington state and a pre-dawn start. The flight itself only last eight minutes but the visit yielded significant new information about the program as she shared in a video discussion. 

Aviation services group Ruag is supporting fellow Swiss company Dufour Aerospace in the development of the Aero2 uncrewed air vehicle (UAV).

I’m in the cockpit of a modified Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, descending from an altitude of about 4,000 feet down to California’s Yolo County Airport, just west of Sacramento. Seated to my left, the pilot is glancing over his landing checklist but keeps his hands off the controls. The yoke turns and presses forward as we prepare for the landing, all while the pilot’s hands are resting in his lap—almost as if a ghost has taken control of the aircraft. 

The "Living Lab" passenger terminal that Skyports has set up at Joby Aviation's eVTOL test facility in Marina, California, is the ground infrastructure group's latest initiative to evaluate how best to support commercial air taxi services that could start in 2024. The UK-based company is building other prototype vertiports in London and Paris.

Italy's first vertiport at Rome's Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport could be part of a network of eVTOL operating bases that Aeroporti di Roma intends to develop with partners including airports in Venice and Bologna as well as in Nice in France. Volocopter provided its 2X eVTOL technology demonstrator aircraft for a demonstration this week and has also deployed its VoloIQ digital platform.

Hydrogen-electric propulsion system developer ZeroAvia now has direct control of HyPoint's turbo-air-cooled, high-temperature proton membrane exchange fuel-cell stacks. The acquisition of HyPoint follows a recent partnership agreement with PowerCell, which is providing low-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell stacks for ZeroAvia's plans to convert existing aircraft to hydrogen power in 2025.

Aura Aero says letters of intent for over 330 sales now back its hybrid-electric Electric Regional Aircraft, for which first deliveries are planned for 2027. In standard airline service, the 19-seater is expected to have a range of 1,000 nm (reducing to 215 nm for all-electric operations) and be able to take off and land with a 600-meter runway.