FutureFlight

Swiss eVTOL aircraft developer Dufour Aerospace released the final design for its Aero 2 cargo drone today after successfully flying its third-generation prototype for the first time. The prototype, which Dufour calls the X2.2, made its first short hover flights at Dübendorf airfield near Zurich last week. 

Japan-based urban planner SkyScape says vertiport developers need to focus on making networks of eVTOL aircraft landing sites as effective as possible, while also ensuring that the infrastructure and air services they support deliver tangible benefits to communities.

Conscious Aerospace says that 90 percent of regional airline routes could be served more competitively and with true zero-carbon emissions using aircraft converted to run on its liquid hydrogen propulsion system. The Dutch company has started work with De Havilland Aircraft of Canada on plans to have converted Dash 8-300 twin turboprops in service by 2028.

United Airlines, which holds provisional orders for up to 200 of Eve Air Mobility's four-passenger eVTOL aircraft, is working with the manufacturer to launch air taxi services in the San Francisco Bay Area. That's close to where rival eVTOL developer Archer is based, and United is also a prospective customer for its aircraft with plans to operate in New York and Chicago.

Paris Air Show Will Put eVTOL Aircraft Set To Star on World Stage

After a three-year development program, Italian airframer Tecnam and aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce have determined that current battery technology is insufficient to support commercially viable operations with an all-electric aircraft. The partners indicated that the limitations of battery life and operating costs associated with these were the main reasons they stopped working on the nine-passenger P-Volt aircraft.

Whisper Aero has lifted the curtains on a new aircraft concept known as the Whisper Jet, which utilizes the company’s next-generation, ultraquiet propulsion system. For more than two years, the secretive Tennessee-based start-up has been developing what it claims will be the quietest and most efficient propulsion system on the market. 

Boeing's Transonic Truss-braced Wing Concept is to be further advanced as NASA's X-66A project as part of the U.S. Aviation Climate Action Plan. The work has $425 million in backing from NASA under the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project, with Boeing and partners contributing a further $725 million. They will fly a demonstrator aircraft featuring extra-long, thin wings attached to the fuselage with diagonal struts referred to as the transonic truss-braced wing concept.

Norwegian start-up Elfly Group this week announced plans for an all-electric seaplane it says will be ready to enter commercial passenger-carrying service in 2030, with a cargo version ready by 2028. At an unveiling event in Oslo on June 14, the company said that early versions of the Noemi aircraft will have between six and 13 seats and will fly up to around 200 kilometers (109 nm) at speeds of up to 250 knots.

Electra.aero has built a technology demonstrator vehicle that it will use to complete the development of its hybrid-electric eSTOL aircraft. During an event on Monday attended by some 200 guests at its headquarters in Manassas, Virginia, the company revealed the two-seat model, which it says is the world’s first blown-lift aircraft powered by distributed electric propulsion.