FutureFlight

The UK’s Britten-Norman and Cranfield Aerospace Solutions (CAeS) have signed a heads-of-terms agreement to merge and start delivering hydrogen-powered regional airliners in 2026. The company aims to achieve certification for both converted and new-build examples of the nine-seat Britten-Norman Islander aircraft.

A £7 million "loan investment" from South Yorkshire's regional government is expected to underwrite Hybrid Air Vehicles' plans to establish a production facility for its Airlander 10 hybrid-electric airship at Doncaster in the UK. The company still needs to raise at least £100 million to start construction of the facility.

Zuri is developing a five-seat hybrid-electric VTOL aircraft that it says will have a range of up to around 700 kilometers that will support regional air services connecting smaller cities with larger hubs. The Czech company, which has already conducted hover testing with a technology demonstrator and has also flown a sub-scale model, is now seeking to raise around $16.5 million.

Natilus, a California-based aerospace start-up developing autonomous cargo airplanes, has successfully flown a subscale technology demonstrator for the first time. The company intends to introduce a family of remotely piloted cargo freighters featuring a unique blended-wing-body (BWB) design that will be capable of carrying more cargo than traditional airplanes of comparable size.

Taiho is the second company to publicly commit to buying SkyDrive's SD-05 two-seat eVTOL aircraft, which will have a range of just 10 kilometers and is expected to enter service in 2025. Japan-based SkyDrive has also logged preorders from one of its early backers, the venture capitalist Kotaro Chiba, and from Vietnam's Pacific Group.

As the city of Miami gears up to become a possible early adopter of eVTOL air taxi services, a local college has launched a consortium of academic, industry, and government partners to help bring the vision of urban air mobility to fruition. The University of Miami's College of Engineering has announced the creation of the Miami Engineering Autonomous Mobility Initiative, which “aims to advance autonomous mobility technology and anticipate challenges to implementation in today’s cities.”

Cranfield Aerospace Solutions (CAeS) has selected Evolito will provide the electric motor and inverters for its Project Fresson hydrogen-powered aircraft. Under the terms of an agreement announced on April 14. Evolito will contribute to efforts to retrofit twin-engined Britten-Norman Islander aircraft to carry nine passengers on short-haul routes, with the goal of having the first converted models approved in 2025.

With the FAA determining that its FlightOS technology satisfies the current means-of-compliance requirements for flight controls, Skyryse believes it could install the first of the new systems on existing helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft under supplemental type certificates during 2024.

Regent is inviting prospective customers and partners to inspect a full-scale mock-up of the Viceroy sea glider it expects to be ready for passenger-carrying commercial flights in 2025. It also announced the selection of key suppliers for the electric-powered vehicles' motors and batteries.

Autonomous aviation pioneer Xwing says it has formally begun the FAA approval process for its “Superpilot” autonomous flight control system, which the company plans to use for pilotless cargo delivery flights in the U.S.

Xwing says it recently filed its project-specific certification plan with the FAA, making the company’s self-piloting Cessna cargo airplane the first standard-category large uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) to receive official project designation from the agency.