FutureFlight

Asset manager Rose Cay says it will acquire up to 250 aircraft for conversion to ZeroAvia's hydrogen-electric powertrain, while ASL Aviation says it will operate up to 10 of its ATR72 twin turboprop freighters powered by ZeroAvia's ZA2000 hydrogen propulsion system beginning in 2026. The Irish carrier is giving ZeroAvia one of its retired aircraft to serve as a development platform for the two- to five-MW powertrain.

Manta Aircraft is now aiming to complete type certification of the two-seat ANN2 vehicle in 2025 and aims to be ready to start flight testing a full-scale prototype in the summer of 2022. Newly appointed partners will contribute to the development of the propulsion system, software for human-machine interfaces, and flight plan management, as well as design development and testing, plus anti-vibration and acoustic shielding systems.

Israel-based Flapz has operations in Chile and Colombia, where its new partner Varon Vehicles is based. The company is seeking to add eVTOL aircraft to an online charter offering that already includes private jets and helicopters and is working with Varon to deliver on a concept that promises easy travel connections of no more than 15 minutes across any of Latin America's congested cities.

The Advanced Air Mobility Leadership Act requires the U.S. government to establish an interagency working group to collaborate on the "safety, infrastructure, physical security, cybersecurity, and federal investment necessary to bolster the AAM ecosystem.” Similar legislation is being considered by the U.S. Senate.

A proposed process would combine Reaction Engines’ heat exchangers developed for its Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine with ammonia cracking catalyst systems developed by the Science and Technology Facilities Council. The partners are aiming to support airliners flying up to around 1,250 miles with the new fuel to be stored in specially adapted wings.

The Butterfly eVTOL uses the Optimum Speed Propulsion rotor technology developed by Karem Aircraft, from which Overair was established. With support from South Korea's Hanwha Systems, the company has expanded its headquarters in Santa Ana, California, as it prepares the aircraft for service entry by 2026.

Skyroads is the new name for air traffic management innovator D3 Technologies, which is gearing up for a Series A funding round. The German company is developing a traffic management system that operates on cellular networks to connect airborne and ground units for drone and eVTOL aircraft operations. It can handle tasks such as automatically assigning a landing area in the event of an emergency during a flight.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ MHI RJ Aviation Group has created the Aerospace Engineering Center to provide expertise in production and certification work to partners seeking to convert existing airliners to new propulsion systems, such as hydrogen fuel cells. The company, which acquired the CRJ program from Bombardier, is part of a trend trying to repurpose legacy aircraft for a more carbon-neutral green future.

In a bid to get a 100-seat regional airliner to market quickly, Wright Electric intends to convert legacy BAe 146 aircraft to electric propulsion and have them certified for commercial service in 2026. The 30-year-old design's four turbofans will be replaced by a quartet of two-MW electric motors, able to support flights of up to around one hour, providing a carbon-free alternative to existing narrowbody airliners on busy routes.

Dufour Aerospace says it has seen sufficient commercial interest in its Aero2 autonomous eVTOL model to support a decision to certify what has been used as a technology demonstrator for the larger Aero3 model. The hybrid-electric Aero2 will have a payload of almost 90 pounds and a flight duration of up to three hours at a cruise speed of just over 100 mph. A prototype of the piloted Aero3 eVTOL model is expected to start flight testing in late 2022 as it heads for entry into service by early 2026.