FutureFlight

With backing from Eurocontrol's Single European Sky ATM Research program, the TindAIR project will demonstrate how a mix of manned and unmanned aircraft can be integrated into urban and suburban airspace. The project will use multiple aircraft to evaluate a variety of applications, including passenger transportation and emergency medical support. It has yet to announce which aircraft will participate and may still be seeking further partners from among eVTOL aircraft developers.

Volocopter sees the logistics sector as being a substantial part of the urban air mobility market, in which it expects to be operating as many as 100,000 eVTOL vehicles by 2035. The company still won't say whether it plans to raise further funds through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, as fellow panelist Blade Urban Air Mobility is doing.

Volocopter's new white paper spells out in detail the steps it is taking to launch commercial eVTOL services in 2023 or 2024. The report builds on its June 2019 white paper by providing a full description of the ecosystem it sees as imperative to establish the urban air mobility sector, with much emphasis placed on the partnerships it is building to support its business plan.

The Reliable Robotics autonomous flight technology maintains a key role for a fully trained pilot remotely controlling operations of converted aircraft from the ground. The company expects cargo operators to be early adopters of the system and to benefit from greater operational flexibility that could make it possible to increase service at smaller regional airports.

Embraer CEO Francisco Gomes Neto told analysts that it is seeking new investment for both its Eve Urban Air Mobility Solutions subsidiary and its planned regional turboprop airliner. While discussions for the latter are now at an "advanced stage," he had nothing "concrete" to report on securing new partners for the development of Embraer's four-passenger, all-electric eVTOL aircraft.

Ampaire is joining the UK's Towards Zero Emissions Regional Aircraft Operations program, with partners including Rolls-Royce, Loganair, and the University of Nottingham. Through May 2022 it will conduct flight demonstrations at airports in the southwest of England to evaluate the potential for scheduled airline services using hybrid-electric propulsion.

The diesel engine at the heart of VerdeGo Aero's new VH-3-185 generator can run on existing jet-A fuel or new biofuels. The unit can be used in several different powertrain architectures to accommodate the propulsion needs of a variety of eVTOL and eSTOL aircraft designs.

Seven more organizations have joined the U.S.-based Community Air Mobility Initiative and the group has also brought more public agencies into its Urban Air Policy Collaborative project. New participants include the city of San Jose, California, and the Los Angeles Department of Transportation.

Aircraft asset-management and leasing group Falko has made an undisclosed investment in Electric Aviation Group's plans for a 70-seat Hybrid-Electric Regional Aircraft. But the UK company has not said how close it is to raising the $5 billion estimated cost of getting the aircraft into service by 2028, and it faces competition for funding from Faradair's Bio Electric Hybrid Aircraft.

Business aviation executives Bill Minkoff and Edwin Brenninkmeyer are cofounding the Advanced Air Mobility Association to promote advances in electric aircraft technology and operations. The group plans to hold a symposium in Silicon Valley in 2022 and to introduce a trophy to honor excellence in electric aviation.