FutureFlight

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.

Airbus said that data gathered from almost three years of operations with its Voom helicopter charter services will be useful in its wider plans to develop urban air mobility services. The service offered per-seat, on-demand charter flights in aircraft operated by a network of companies in Brazil, Mexico, and California.

Kitty Hawk is making software and procedural changes after an NTSB accident report found that its flight test team failed to terminate battery charging script before takeoff. This caused flight controls to degrade, resulting in a heavy landing that damaged the prototype of its Heaviside eVTOL aircraft.

China's EHang is the first publicly listed company among the eVTOL startups and it has achieved early revenue growth with early deliveries of uncertified aircraft. That said, it still has a way to go to achieve profitability and is facing difficulties resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Lilium's success in completing its latest $240 million funding round at a time when the wider aviation industry is seeing equity values severely diminished in response to concerns over the Covid-19 pandemic might suggest that the longer-term eVTOL sector is viewed differently by investors.

Urban Aeronautics, which is developing the hydrogen-powered CityHawk VTOL, is looking to advance plans to get this aircraft available for urban air mobility through a partnership with rideshare air taxi booking service Ascent.

EHang has reached an agreement to start flight trials and other urban air mobility development work in both Spain and Norway. However, severe disruption to both travel and business activity in both European countries seems likely to delay the implementation of these plans.