FutureFlight

Lilium's latest fundraising campaign has been launched as the public company seeks to preserve its listing on New York's Nasdaq market after being notified on April 13 that it was not compliant with the requirement to maintain its closing bid price above $1. A subsidiary of existing shareholder Tencent Holding is ready to contribute $100 million and also a further $75 million if other backers will match this amount.

Helisul Aviation intends to add Moya Aero’s autonomous eVTOL aircraft to its fleet, having last week signed a letter of intent with the Brazilian start-up covering the purchase of 50 of the all-electric vehicles. With a payload of 200 kilograms (440 pounds) and a range of up to 110 kilometers (70 miles), the aircraft is being developed for roles such as cargo deliveries and crop spraying.

Alaska Airlines this week donated a Dash 8 Q400 twin turboprop aircraft to ZeroAvia to support the company’s work to convert regional airliners to hydrogen propulsion. The aircraft handed over at a May 1 event at ZeroAvia’s research and development facility at Paine Field in Washington state will be fitted with the company’s ZA2000 fuel-cell-based propulsion system in preparation for eventual flight testing.

Revolution may have been in the air in October 2018 when a cabal of disruptors armed with plans for distributed electric propulsion and automated flight controls first gathered in San Francisco to plot how to turn the aviation world upside down. Almost five years and a global pandemic later, the Revolution.Aero event convened in Dublin last week, with the upstarts beginning to sound more like their boring legacy aviation industry parents, tempering bold promises that eVTOL aircraft would fill urban skies by 2024 with a more cautious and patient approach.

Electric air taxi developer Joby Aviation is expanding its partnership with Toyota Motor Corporation. The Japanese carmaker has agreed to supply key components for Joby’s eVTOL aircraft, the companies announced on April 27. 

NASA marked the anniversary of the 50-year ban on commercial supersonic travel over land last week highlighting the progress of its “Quesst” mission, which includes plans to fly a Mach 1.4 X-59 test aircraft this year to pave the way for noise trials. Those noise trials involving the X-plane will be used to gather data that could ultimately make supersonic operations over land possible again.

Reliable Robotics has teamed with NASA to improve the safety of remotely-piloted aircraft in the National Airspace System using FAA primary surveillance radar data. Specifically, the partners wanted to explore the use of existing radar infrastructure for automated detect-and-avoid systems on board autonomous aircraft. 

Electric aircraft developers promise to revolutionize the aviation industry by replacing gas-guzzling turbine engines with more environmentally friendly, battery-powered propulsion systems that produce zero emissions while boasting significantly lower operating costs. 

Joby Aviation could soon be the first eVTOL air taxi developer to operate its aircraft on U.S. Air Force bases. The California-based company has received a $55 million contract extension from the USAF’s Agility Prime program, bringing the total potential value of the contract up to $131 million. As part of the agreement, Joby will deliver up to nine of its five-seat air taxis to the USAF. The first two aircraft are expected to arrive at Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California by early 2024.

For two years, Whisper Aero has been quietly developing what it says will be the quietest and most efficient propulsion system on the market. Upon closing a $32 million Series A funding round last week, the company finally broke its silence to reveal some details about its ultra-low-noise thrusters.