Sweden’s Heart Aerospace may have moved up to 30 seats to increase the appeal of its planned electric regional airliner, but French startup Aura Aero continues to pursue a 19-seater and has announced letters of intent for another 130 aircraft, taking the total to more than 330.
The first crewed electric vertical takeoff and landing flight in Italian airspace has been conducted from the country’s first fully functional vertiport at Rome’s Fiumicino International Airport.
Lessors have played a major role in boosting the conditional orderbooks of electric aircraft startups, from Avolon’s preorder for 500 Vertical Aerospace four-passenger air taxis to Rockton’s letter of intent for 40 Heart Aerospace 30-seat regional airliners.
The Eurodrone medium altitude long endurance uncrewed aircraft system program has passed its Integrated Baseline Review, a key milestone toward upcoming design reviews.
Chinese startup AutoFlight has opened a U.S. office as it pursues plans to develop and certify its electric urban air taxi in Europe, manufacture the vehicle in China and market it globally.
Tecnam, based in Capua, Italy, has added a new 11-seat P2012 STOL twin-piston aircraft to its product lineup, an aircraft dedicated to short takeoff and landing operations.
Regent and TotalEnergies plan to explore the use of an electric seaglider to support the operations of offshore energy platforms such as oil rigs and wind turbines. The two companies plan to develop requirements and validate using one of Regent’s seagliders for offshore operations support, Regent said Sept. 30.
Luxaviation, the Luxembourg-headquartered private air operator, is launching a new online travel management system, but senior company executives say the initiative will go beyond increasing customer access to and control over booking details.
As calls grow within the advanced air mobility community for demonstrations that will show the public and policymakers the potential benefits of this new form of transportation, startup Electra.aero is making plans to fly its technology demonstrator between Washington and Richmond, the Virginia state capital.
Five startups emerged as winners from the pitch-style final of an urban air mobility innovation challenge sponsored by the Vertical Lift Consortium, a collaboration that supports the Defense Department.
With the world’s advanced air mobility (AAM) industry watching EHang’s progress toward the first type certification of an autonomous air taxi, the Chinese startup has reported that the project specific certification plan for its two-seat EH216-S has been approved by the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
Achieving sustainability in operations is a high priority for organizations across the business-aviation sector. But of almost equal importance are accurately and honestly communicating the details of carbon-reduction efforts.
Already planning to develop an autonomous hydrogen-fueled air and road vehicle and associated landing and refueling infrastructure, U.S. startup LuftCar has announced plans to develop a fuel-cell/battery hybrid propulsion system for the advanced air mobility market.
Textron Aviation is to help startup ZeroAvia develop and certify a hydrogen-electric propulsion conversion for the Cessna 208B Grand Caravan single-turboprop utility aircraft.
One of the more unusual designs for an urban air taxi—Spanish company Umiles Next’s “drone-of-drones” Concept Integrity—has conducted flight tests at the Onera Test Field in Toulouse.
Business aviation operators are eager to get their hands on advanced air mobility platforms, but infrastructure uncertainties may slow their introduction, panel discussion participants at the Air Charter Expo say.
