FutureFlight

Lilium this week made its eVTOL aircraft available for purchase by U.S. private owners through an agreement with aircraft management and charter group EMC Jet. Under an agreement announced on October 18, EMC Jet committed to taking five of the four-passenger Pioneer Edition versions of the all-electric Lilium Jet and to act as the German manufacturer’s exclusive private sales dealer in Texas where it is based through 2030.

South Korea’s efforts to be an advanced air mobility (AAM) early adopter gathered fresh momentum this week, with more announcements from U.S. eVTOL aircraft developers, a major airline, and local government agencies. During this week’s Seoul ADEX aerospace and defense show, the Asian country’s plans to prioritize electric aviation took a high profile.

During this week's NBAA-BACE business aviation show in Las Vegas, Daher CEO Didier Kayat reported that the EcoPulse company's distributed propulsion technology demonstrator will fly for the first time on electric power “within the next two weeks or so.” Kayat has committed Daher to launching a hybrid-electric production aircraft by 2027, with the specification expected to be defined next year.

Hydrogen fuel production and distribution specialists Protium Haskel and Nel Hydrogen have joined forces to advance the partly public-funded Project Heart to establish a process for supplying hydrogen-powered aircraft at UK regional airports. Germany-based Hy2gen has opted to expand its plans to produce renewable hydrogen and hydrogen-derived e-fuels in the U.S., where it says more attractive tax incentives and an efficient regulatory process are available.

Abu Dhabi has stepped up its efforts to be an early adopter of advanced air mobility (AAM) through a partnership announced this week with eVTOL aircraft developer Archer Aviation. Under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on October 16, the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) committed to making a substantial, but as-yet-undisclosed, investment in what would be Archer’s first international operation, through various incentives and capital expenditures over the next few years.

Honeywell will use its connectivity technology to operate ground control stations to handle both uncrewed and remotely piloted eVTOL aircraft. The company has started working on these plans with eVTOL vehicle developer Supernal.

Quantum3D, a Silicon Valley-based company that develops flight simulation technologies for the aerospace and defense industries, has revealed its first mixed-reality flight simulator for an eVTOL air taxi. The company recently debuted its new simulator at the Airtaxi World Congress in San Francisco, where attendees had the opportunity to try their hand at piloting the LimoConnect, an eVTOL air taxi being developed by Limosa. 

The electrical harness system for the Lilium Jet has been designed to balance the need for maximum power performance with weight and space limitations in the airframe. Lilium jointly developed the patented technology for its all-electric aircraft's ducted fan propulsion system with program partners GKN Aerospace and Rosenberger.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China is the first air safety agency to issue type certification for an eVTOL aircraft, having cleared EHang's EH216-S two-seat model to start commercial, passenger-carrying flights in the country. More remarkably, the EH216-S will operate autonomously with operations coordinated from ground control centers—something that no other international aviation regulator appears to be even close to allowing.

Japan’s SkyDrive this week confirmed more details about its plan to start series production of its three-seat SD-05 eVTOL aircraft. The start-up announced it has established a subsidiary production company called Sky Works in partnership with Suzuki Motor Corporation, which is providing capacity at its factory in Iwata City to assemble the aircraft at an initial rate of 100 units per year.