Month: January 2023

Skyports Drone Services and electric autonomous aircraft manufacturer Pyka have agreed on a partnership for heavy payload drone logistics. The collaboration plans to leverage Skyports Drone Services’ extensive operational experience as well as Pyka’s heavy payload aircraft to provide heavy drone delivery services. The partnership specifically involves Skyports Drone Services and the recently unveiled Pyka Pelican Cargo uncrewed aerial system...

Read More

MightyFly Unveils 2nd Generation eVTOL

29 January 2023 || 3 min read

Bay-area startup, MightyFly, has announced a next generation of its eVTOL prototype. The prototype dubbed, Cento, builds upon the firms previous model and is capable of carrying a 100 pound payload up to a range of 600 miles at speeds of 150 mph. Cento uses a hybrid powertrain and is able to achieve its 600-mile range without any charging. This...

Read More

Eviation Aircraft, manufacturer of the all-electric Alice aircraft, announced that Aerus, an emerging regional airline in Mexico, has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) for 30 commuter aircraft. The nine-seater Alice is the world’s first flight-tested all-electric commuter aircraft. Built from a clean- sheet design, the Alice produces no emissions and costs significantly less to operate per flight hour compared to...

Read More

Electra.aero, a company developing an ultra short takeoff and landing aircraft, has been selected by the U.S Air Force for a Strategic Fund Increase program. This program will allow Electra.aero to partner with the U.S Air Force to raise up to $85 million through private investments, government funding, and matching Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding. Electra.aero’s all-electric aircraft design...

Read More

Blade Air Mobility and RedBird Capital Partners announced last week that RedBird has increased its ownership in Blade to more than 5%. Further, the announcement comes as RedBird also announces that partner Andrew Lauck will become a board observer. RedBird’s has been invested in Blade since 2016, and collectively the RedBird and Blade teams have closely collaborated during the development...

Read More

Marubeni, a Japanese industrial development company, has signed a deal to purchase 25 eVTOL aircraft from Vertical Aerospace, with options to purchase 200 in total. Marubeni has ambitious plans to develop Advanced Aerial Mobility (AAM) networks throughout Japan, and other areas in Asia. Already, the company has conducted a proof-of-conceptions operation in Osaka, Japan, using traditional helicopters. It also has...

Read More

In a large step forward towards zero-emission aviation, ZeroAvia has accomplished the first flight of its hydrogen-electric Dornier 228 testbed. The flight occured on January 19, 2023 at Cotswold Airport (approx. 2 hours west of London). ZeroAvia successfully carries out the first flight test of its Dornier 228 19-seat testbed in Gloucestershire, UK, marking a pivotal milestone in ZeroAvia’s HyFlyer...

Read More

Horizon Aircraft just released the footage of its 50% scale prototype hybrid-electric eVTOL aircraft completing initial hover testing. The Cavorite X5 is claimed to feature greater range and payload capabilities via the hybrid-electric powerplant and an in-flight battery array recharging feature. Horizon presented the initial photos of its 50% Scale prototype of Cavorite X5 eVTOL in August of 2022, and...

Read More

Skyports Drone Services announced on January 13th the launch of a large scale employment program aimed at recruiting personnel to support the roll out of drone operations across existing and emerging markets. The program is named the “Hub Operator Program” and intends to find applicants willing to travel for extended periods of time and work at the leading edge of...

Read More

The market for eVTOL leasing is gaining traction as this week, Lobo has signed a letter of intent to lease 5 unmanned Pipistrel eVTOLs to Air Taurus, Ltd. Air Taurus Limited is an eVTOL operator headquartered in Ireland and a group affiliate of AYR Logistics, a UK-based logistics and aviation services company. Lobo manages aviation investments across the world in...

Read More

Elroy Air, a company developing an end-to-end autonomous vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aerial cargo system, has signed an agreement with LCI, a leading aviation company and a subsidiary of Libra Group, for commitments to purchase up to 40 of Elroy’s Chaparral vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft. Deposits have been paid for the first 20 vehicles. With this agreement, Elroy...

Read More

BlueFlite, a Michigan company developing high-performance and high-versatility cargo drone, has partnered with Acadian, one of the largest Ambulance companies in the United States. Through the partnership, Acadian plans to develop a first-of-its-kind drone-based emergency response solution for lifesaving medical deliveries in the USA. According to a recent press release from the two companies, the partnership will aim to deliver...

Read More

NASA employees conducted a full scale crash test of an eVTOL late last year at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia. The eVTOL was developed by RVLT (Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology) as part of advancing NASA’s Advanced Aerial Mobility Initiative. The full size mockup was hoisted into the air then released and swung forward, followed by impact with the ground....

Read More

The FAA released a statement on January 7th detailing an agreement with the Korean Civilian Aviation Safety Authority (KOCA) to accept the respective nation’s airworthiness approvals, test procedures and pilot qualifications, along with a variety of other related aerial mobility activities. The agreement states that Korea and the United States intent to work together to sustain an equivalent level of...

Read More

Coming out of this year’s CES 2023 conference, Archer Aviation has announced an expanded partnership with Stellantis for the production of their eVTOL model, Midnight. Stellantis will work with Archer to stand up Archer’s recently announced manufacturing facility in Covington, Georgia at which the companies plan to begin manufacturing the Midnight aircraft in 2024. This unique partnership in the urban...

Read More