FutureFlight

Responding to a call from Airbus, Air France-KLM, Groupe ADP, and the Choose Paris Region for airport hydrogen projects, the selected 11 organizations and/or consortiums proposed a range of projects surround distribution, storage, development, use, and lifecycle of hydrogent.

Several Irish business groups have joined forces with vertiport specialist Skyports to develop the infrastructure needed to support eVTOL aircraft for passenger and cargo services. The partners want to be ready to launch initial operations from Shannon Airport from 2022.

Blade Urban Air Mobility passengers traveling from Manhattan to the Hamptons and Nantucket will be able to ride on all-electric Cessna Caravan seaplanes from early 2023. Aircraft operator Lima NY has agreed to convert the aircraft to use MagniX's electric propulsion units, replacing the Caravan's existing turboprop engine.

The Vertical Flight Society's annual Design-Build-Vertical-Flight competition is intended to motivate and inspire engineering students to consider working in the advanced air mobility sector, developing eVTOL aircraft technology. Seven university teams were recognized in this year's event, with the University of Michigan coming out on top.

Administrators liquidating the assets of battery technology group Oxis Energy are taking bids for 43 patent families covering lithium-sulfur systems and other new applications and designs. The company went into administration on May 19 after failing to secure fresh investment, despite having secured partnerships with electric aviation companies such a Bye Aerospace and Safran.

The VoloDrone is expected to start business-to-business services in the next three years, carrying payloads of up to around 440 pounds over distances of 25 miles. The unmanned aircraft will use an autonomous flight control system jointly developed by Germany's Volocopter and U.S.-based robotics specialist Near Earth Autonomy. The partners plan a beyond visual line of sight flight demonstration in 2022.

The first of the converted King Airs is being flight tested at Mojave in California as Merlin Air works with its partner Dynamic Aviation to secure FAA approval for a supplemental type certificate. The partnership calls for up to 55 of Dynamic's King Airs to be converted for autonomous operations in a variety of pubic- and private-sector roles, provided as a service to clients.

Manhattan-based start-up Kelekona says it is starting to build a scaled model of an eVTOL aircraft based on a blended wing, or lifting body, airframe concept. The search for premises and ambitions to start flight testing the design under an FAA experimental license by early 2022 have led to plans for a new funding round to start in late July.

Apart from what is visible in three photos released on May 25, almost nothing is known about the technology EHang is using for the VT-30 eVTOL aircraft, including the hybrid-electric propulsion system that will support a projected range of 187 miles. The Chinese company reported that it has made an initial vertical takeoff and landing, but provided no further details about its plan to bring the aircraft into commercial service for inter-city flights and trips around larger regional areas in China and beyond.

Faradair Aerospace founder and CEO Neil Cloughley says the BEHA aircraft has the potential to disrupt the current economic constraints on regional airline services, with its short-field takeoff and landing performance allowing it to bypass major airports. It has recently added to its list of partners with companies including Dunlop Aircraft Tyres joining the UK-based program.