FutureFlight

Both Quantum Air and OSM Aviation are due to operate Bye Aerospace's new eFlyer electric fixed-wing aircraft, with deliveries due to begin in late 2021. The companies say it will take 12 to 20 months to train new pilots.

EHang announced plans for sightseeing flights within weeks of providing its autonomous eVTOL aircraft to support emergency operations in response to flooding and the Covid-19 outbreak in China. The company has also published its first full-year results since going public with a Nasdaq IPO in December 2019.

Ross Perot, Jr. believes the 26,000-acre Fort Worth Alliance airport complex is just the place to develop and test a new generation of delivery drones and passenger eVTOL aircraft. Beginning in the 1980s, Perot’s Hillwood Development donated the land for the public-use airport and developed adjacent industrial, retail, and 10,000 residential properties.

VoltAero this week revealed the production configuration for its Cassio hybrid-electric aircraft. The French company started flight testing the fixed-wing design in early March and plans to achieve type certification under EASA’s CS-23 rules in time for deliveries to begin by the end of 2022.

Wisk hopes to resume flight testing of its Cora eVTOL aircraft before the end of May, subject to the further lifting of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions in New Zealand, where much of the program’s development work is being conducted. Since April 28, when New Zealand moved from level four to level three of its lockdown, Wisk technicians have been able to work in the company’s hangar preparing its prototypes to fly. Tests will be able to restart when level two is achieved, possibly by the end of next week.

NASA started flight testing the first example of the X-57 Maxwell electric aircraft early in 2020 and expects to have four prototypes in test flights by early 2022. Its aim is to provide guidance for electric aircraft pioneers and also regulators.

The E-Fan X technology demonstrator was intended to prove the potential for a hybrid-electric propulsion system to power a commercial airliner. Despite the program’s cancellation in late April, Airbus says it still intends to continue research and development work on smaller eVTOL aircraft for applications such as air taxi flights.

Sabrewing appears to have increased the performance of its Rhaegal family of cargo-carrying autonomous aircraft. An initial prototype is to be evaluated under the U.S. Air Force’s Agility Prime program, which will determine its potential suitability for military applications.

Constraints on capital and shifting investment priorities could trigger a shakeout in the crowded eVTOL aircraft and urban air mobility sector, according to Kirsten Bartok Touw, founder and managing partner of the AirFinance group. Speaking at an April 29 NBAA-organized webinar on the future of innovation in aviation, she said companies able to attract investment before the Covid-19 emergency are now far better placed to bring their aircraft to market than competitors that still need to find funding.

Hyundai Motor Company and Uber are working together to develop a new electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to be used for rideshare air-taxi service. The announcement was made on the eve of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last month, making the South Korean automotive group the eighth prospective eVTOL aircraft manufacturer selected by Uber to support its planned Uber Air rideshare service.