Aircraft & Propulsion

Embraer delivered 21 business jets and nine commercial aircraft during the third quarter of 2021, bringing its number of deliveries so far the year to 54 business jets and 32 commercial aircraft, the company said Oct. 21.

After NBAA-BACE was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic, the business aviation community reconvened in Las Vegas.

DHL Express plans to demonstrate the use of delivery drones for port logistics in a joint initiative with Malaysian aviation services company Pen Aviation and local cargo operator Raya Airways.

The first electric racing aircraft built for the new Air Race E series is being readied for flight.

Major events such as the Olympic Games that focus the world’s attention on one country are emerging as key early showcases for urban air mobility.

Despite pandemic-related supply chain disruption, the redesigned Eviation Alice is in final assembly ahead of first flight by year-end.

The European Space Agency and UK air navigation service provider NATS are exploring whether 5G cellular communications technology could help to provide a resilient positioning capability for uncrewed air systems.

European engineering services company Akka Technologies has unveiled its concept for a zero-emission regional aircraft.

Aircraft finance and asset management company Amedeo has entered a strategic partnership with Aura Aero that includes a letter of intent to purchase 200 of the French startup’s planned 19-seat ERA hybrid-electric regional aircraft.

The U.S. Forestry Service has retired its Bell AH-1 Cobra helicopters used for the aerial supervision of firefighting operations.

Backed by Chinese electric car maker XPeng, startup HT Aero has reached agreement to raise more than $500 million to develop an integrated flying and driving vehicle.

A central tenet of Uber’s Elevate vision for urban aerial ride sharing was that this is commercial air transport—aircraft owned by airlines and flown by professional pilots plying between vertiports.

Used business aircraft prices have increased 20% to 30% due to historically low inventory and a backlog of new aircraft orders, an International Aircraft Dealers Association survey of its dealers shows.

With investors including Alaska Air Group, UP.Partners has closed a $230 million early stage venture capital fund dedicated to supporting companies enabling future mobility.

Germany’s Volocopter has partnered with Austrian commercial vehicle manufacturer Schwarzmuller to develop a mobile takeoff and landing platform for the VoloDrone electric unmanned cargo aircraft.

Enabled by cash from parent defense prime General Dynamics, the market leader is poised to maintain its dominance for many years to come.

Reliable Robotics has raised an additional $100 million in funding to continue development of its remotely operated aircraft system for cargo and passenger aircraft.

The King Air installation adds an additional 6-8 ft. of wingspan.

China’s AutoFlight debuted its planned V1500M electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing air taxi at Airshow China 2021 in Zhuhai at the end of September.

Fuel-cell developer and green-hydrogen producer Plug Power has announced partnerships with both Airbus and startup Airflow to bring zero-emission hydrogen propulsion to aviation.

Leidos is offering the Bombardier Challenger 650 as a fleet replacement or contractor-operator service for the U.S. Army’s RC-12X Guardrail Common Sensor.

The long-range and large-cabins market is where the money has been for business aircraft OEMs, the most lucrative and resilient sector.

The first announced application for EP Systems’ EPiC lithium-ion battery module, the eDA40 is designed for use as an electric circuit trainer.

Aviation Week editors gather in Las Vegas to talk about the buoyant mood at 2021 NBAA-BACE and COVID-19’s silver lining for the business aviation industry.

Volocopter and logistics company DB Schenker conducted the first public demonstration of the VoloDrone heavy-lift unmanned cargo aircraft at the ITS World Congress in Hamburg on Oct. 12.