FutureFlight

Hidden Level's Airspace Monitoring System provides low-altitude data to support detect-and-avoid performance for autonomous aircraft. The company is also a partner in Uber's plans for urban air mobility operations.

Heavy financial losses resulting from the grounding of Boeing's 737 Max airliner and the collapse of the airline market in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic have prompted the U.S. aerospace giant to withdraw from what it now considers non-core businesses.

U.S. manufacturers have been slow to declare plans to enter the electric aviation sector and General Motor's apparent interest in providing batteries for eVTOL aircraft is still a long way short of interest being shown by Asian automotive groups.

At the Greentech Festival in Berlin, Volocopter opened reservations for early flights in its VoloCity aircraft at fares of €300 ($357). The company has continued flight testing of its prototype throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

Former Airbus CTO Paul Eremenko's startup, Universal Hydrogen, wants to deliver hydrogen modules directly to aircraft, bypassing the need for costly infrastructure to fuel hydrogen-powered aircraft. The company will subsidize the cost of converting aircraft.

California-based Ampaire has achieved first flight of the second technology demonstrator of its hybrid-electric Electric EEL aircraft. Hawaiian regional airline Mokulele is set to be the launch customer with trial operations to begin before the end of 2020.

The V400 autonomous eVTOL vehicle will be able to carry a payload weighing up to 100 kg. Its developer, Autoflight, also intends to step up the development of a two-seat eVTOL called the V600.

Lilium sees Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia region—with a population of 18 million and 10 cities with more than 300,000 residents—as a potential early adopter of eVTOL air taxi services. The company's Lilium Jet aircraft is expected to be ready to enter service in 2025.

South Korea's Hyundai has become an "associate member full" of the U.S.-based General Aviation Manufacturers Association, which has been steadily attracting new electric aircraft pioneers to its ranks. However, eight months after announcing plans to develop an eVTOL aircraft, the carmaker has provided no further details on the program, which is backed by Uber.

Honeywell's new division focused on new unmanned aerial systems and urban air mobility aircraft is giving partners the opportunity to evaluate its fly-by-wire system, as well as other avionics equipment being developed for the new sector.