SkyDrive announced on November 28th that they’ve signed a MoU with Pacific Group Co Ltd, a leading renewable energy company and investment promotion with international funds in Vietnam, for pre-order of 10 SkyDrive SD-05 eVTOL’s with options for up to 90 additional, or 100 total. Pacific Group has also agreed to explore sustainable and easily accessible new mobility solutions focused on the use case of SkyDrive’s SD-05 flying vehicles in the Vietnamese market. 

Pacific Group’s interest in SkyDrive’s eVTOLs specifically targets the crowded roadways in Vietnam’s urban centers, and aims to increase traffic safety by removing vehicles from the road and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions with electric-powered aircraft.

“We would be happy to contribute to solving Vietnam’s social issues by providing eVTOLs, a means of transportation using  the sky, as one of the country’s new transportation infrastructures,” said SkyDrive CEO  Tomohiro Fukuzawa.

Vietnam’s government committed at COP26 to net-zero emissions by year 2050, and several companies and localities in Vietnam include trending toward net zero emissions as a must-do in their short term business plan. Le Ngoc Anh Minh, Executive President and Founder of Pacific Group, stated: “Of course, we will have to work closely with SkyDrive and several authorities such as Vietnam Transport Ministry, Civil Aviation Agency of Vietnam, Vietnam Ministry of Defense from time to time to explain and present the trend and technology of eVTOL to get approval and to enhance regulations updated.”

Why it’s important: Pacific Group’s interest in SkyDrive eVTOLs represents an early move by a Vietnamese customer and priority position in line to receive eVTOL aircraft for utilization in Vietnam. Further, this order represents burgeoning demand for transportation investments and improvements in Vietnam, a country currently making strides in economic modernization and per capita GDP growth as the nation modernizes their industry.

The FAA signed a draft Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) document on November 21st that adds a “powered lift” aircraft to the existing types of air carrier operations, a move that would set the stage for air carrier regulations that would apply specifically to eVTOL and aerial mobility aircraft in the future.

The 98 page document outlines the mechanics of the new categories integration into existing regulations, as well as proposes the addition of “powered lift” aircraft to 14 CFR 110.2 and extends rules applicable to air carriers in certain operations to aerial mobility operations.

Additionally, the NPRM states that powered lift operational experience will be required for air carriers intending to operate powered lift type aircraft in air carrier capacities, meaning that the initial pool of powered lift experience will reside largely with OEM’s. Existing Part 135 and 121 carriers do not yet operate eVTOL aircraft as they’ve not yet been certified, and will seek operating experience with these new aircraft types as soon as possible to meet the proposed requirements for issuance of operation certificates (Part 119). Importantly, the NPRM extends beyond just Part 121 and 135, but also to Parts 91, 125, and 136 to ensure coverage and effectivity of regulations to the foreseeable applications of eVTOL use cases beyond just point to point transportation.

Why it’s important: The FAA’s movement to propose a new category of aircraft type be included in existing air carrier documentation is an important step for the FAA as they lay the groundwork for an innovative and disruptive type of aircraft that will challenge the current short haul to last mile status quo. Further, the FAA’s NPRM is currently under review and comment submission, meaning that the FAA will likely receive input from OEM’s developing aerial mobility aircraft as well as potential future operators as well.

The NPRM document from the FAA is located here.

Australia’s Ministry for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government has released $18M in grants under the first round of the New and Emerging Aviation Technology Partnerships in early November.

“The Emerging Aviation Technology Partnerships Program will ensure our aviation sector remains at the forefront of innovation as it continues to develop and grow, particularly with renewed focus on achieving net zero carbon emissions”, said Minister Catherine King.

This Grant makes it clear that there is strong policy support for aerial mobility in Australia and supports the eVTOL development roadmap issued by CASA to guide the future deployment and rollout of aerial mobility services in Australia.

Companies like Skyportz are seeking to capitalize on this new fund, having worked over the past 4 years to encourage the development of Advanced Air Mobility policy at all levels of Government, particularly in the space of essential vertiport infrastructure.

Skyportz has over 400 potential sites owned by property partners that are interested in licensing for operation of said sites as vertiports.

“The key to this industry is breaking the nexus between aviation and existing airports. We need to develop a network of new vertiport sites if the industry is to reach its potential and Skyportz is readying the landscape to partner with infrastructure investors”, said Skyportz CEO Clem Newton-Brown.

Why it’s important: Australia’s CASA budget for continued eVTOL development supports the future growth of aerial mobility in Australia and provides a monetary incentive for companies considering entry to the space. Additionally, the monetary incentive will also attract land owners and those in commercial real estate to more seriously consider their holdings as potential opportunities for aerial mobility usage.

Last week, Volocopter revealed a fully integrated vertiport terminal for urban air mobility operations of the future. The vertiport was shared via a launch event which provided an opportunity to demonstrate the end-to-end passenger journey, from arrival at the vertiport terminal to aircraft boarding.

The vertiport testbed will be located at Pontoise-Cormeilles, was designed by Skyports in collaboration with Groupe ADP, and will be aircraft agnostic. Volocopter plans to utilize this new vertiport as a chance to test the full vertical integration of aerial mobility ecosystem. Most importantly, it facilitates collaboration between the key ecosystem partners, including technology pioneers, regulators and local partners such as the French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC), suppliers and airlines. The vertiport will specifically enable testing of:

• Vehicle integration, ground movement procedures, and charging procedures
• Flight scheduling, situational awareness, and information exchange
• Passenger journey through the terminal, including security and check-in processes, biometric technologies (provided by SITA), passenger dwell time, and aircraft boarding.

A model of the VoloCity, which is being developed as Volocopter’s first certified aircraft for commercial services, was featured at the launch in addition to a crewed test flight of the 2X model – the only aircraft currently authorized for eVTOL test flights in France. The series of demonstrations by Skyports and Volocopter also featured displays of flight monitoring capabilities and digital operating systems, including Skyports’ vertiport operating systems and the VoloIQ.

Why it’s important: Volocopter’s partnership with Skyports and Groupe ADP will serve to advance integration testing for aerial mobility efforts of the future and also flush out advanced higher level operational challenges of vertiport implementation. While a great deal of these advances can be simulated and evaluated via analysis, representative testing of the end-to-end operational spectrum within aerial mobility and the associated checkouts of full (or representative) missions will help better prepare the industry for initial rollout of urban air mobility services.

VoltAero announced last week the completion of their first tranche of Series B financing, with Italy-based TESI, who will continue in partnership with VoltAero as a strategic investor and manufacturing partner.

The Series B round includes a €32 million capital raise and VoltAero has shared that these funds will help to cover certification and production launch of the first member in its electric-hybrid aircraft family, the Cassio 330.
 
TESI (Tecnologie E Servizi Innovativi S.r.l.) was also announced to produce the airframe for VoltAero’s no. 1 Cassio 330 prototype, which is targeted to make its maiden flight in 2023. Cassio 330 is a five-seat version, with a combined electric-hybrid propulsive power of 330 kilowatts. 
 
By integrating VoltAero’s proprietary electric-hybrid propulsion system into the company’s purpose-designed airframe, the Cassio aircraft family is poised to deliver an order of magnitude better performance as compared to the current competition, and provide significant lower operational costs.
 
TESI will build the Cassio 330 certification prototype airframe at its Cicerale facility in the Campania region of southwestern Italy. The company is specialized in the production and integration of metallic structures and assemblies, as well as mechanical parts – with in-house capabilities from machining and forming to assembly, backed by resources for heat and surface treatment.
 
Production Cassio airplanes are planned to be manufactured in three versions, each sharing a high degree of modularity and commonality. The family will provide a highly capable and reliable product line for regional commercial operators, air taxi/charter companies, private owners, as well as in utility-category service for cargo, postal delivery and medical evacuation applications.
 
The Cassio 330 will be the first certified version, with five seats and powered by the 330-kilowatt electric-hybrid propulsion system. VoltAero’s next aircraft to be certified will be the six-seat Cassio 480 which will have an electric-hybrid propulsion power of 480 kilowatts, while the Cassio 600 is sized at a 12-seat capacity with electric-hybrid propulsion power of 600 kilowatts.

Why it’s important: VoltAero’s announcement of this investment is important for the company’s continued certification efforts. As a direct competitor to US-based Ampaire, VoltAero is also working to develop electric regional and short haul commercial aircraft. Key to VoltAero’s future success is the manufacturing resources required to erect an assembly line responsible for large-scale production of the aircraft, as well as the new tooling that’ll be needed to build a first of its kind airframe and powerplant system. Further, certification will be at the forefront of VoltAero’s priorities as they work with EASA and competitor Ampaire works with the FAA marching towards initial revenue operations. Continued monitoring and comparison between these two similar firms will be important as an indicator of OEM and regulatory readiness to deploy electric aircraft into regularly scheduled and charter flight operations.

Ampaire, a leader in hybrid-electric aviation, has received a firm order for 25 Eco Caravans from MONTE, a financier of sustainable regional aviation technologies. The agreement also includes an option for an additional 25 Eco Caravan order and codifies the parties’ Preferred Partner relationship.

“MONTE is looking to build a fleet of low emission and zero emission aircraft to lease or finance for regional aircraft operators worldwide. Ampaire has emerged as the leading hybrid-electric technology provider. Its Eco Caravan will be very attractive for a segment of our operators, thanks to its wide performance envelope and ability to operate without ground charging infrastructure where necessary,” according to MONTE’s Investment Director, Timothy Eyre.

The Eco Caravan is a hybrid-electric upgrade of the Cessna Grand Caravan. The Eco Caravan can reduce fuel and emissions as much as 70 percent on shorter trips and 50 percent on longer ones, while preserving payload capability and extending range. When flown on sustainable aviation fuel, it is effectively carbon neutral. The Eco Caravan’s operating cost is 25 to 40 percent lower than the Cessna Grand Caravan depending on the type of missions flown. The aircraft can recharge its batteries in flight, meaning it can use any airport that Caravans fly from today, regardless of ground charging capability.

In July of this year, Ampaire’s EEL hybrid-electric aircraft demonstrator completed a 1,125 mile flight from Los Angeles to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, which was the longest nonstop flight ever made by a hybrid-electric aircraft. Upon arrival, it was positioned on display at EAA AirVenture’s most prominent location—Boeing Plaza.

Related:

• Air France Industries Partners with Ampaire to Advance Electric Aviation Infrastructure – Oct 2022
• WingTips Orders Five of Ampaire’s Hybrid-Electric Grand Caravan Aircraft, Options for 20 More – Aug 2022

“The Eco Caravan is our starting point for a revolution in air travel,” said Ampaire CEO Kevin Noertker. “It brings cost per available seat mile down to the range of driving, benefiting operators and their passengers. It dramatically shrinks the aircraft’s carbon footprint. The propulsion technology is scalable and we intend to quickly move toward larger regional aircraft and even the single-aisle jet market over time.”

The nine-passenger Eco Caravan is undergoing ground power tests and will fly later this year. It is the first hybrid-electric aircraft to enter the certification process with the FAA. A supplemental type certification for the upgraded aircraft is expected in 2024. It will therefore offer the earliest opportunity for regional carriers to fly in the most sustainable way possible.

Why it’s important: By upgrading existing passenger aircraft to hybrid-electric power, Ampaire is arguably employing the quickest, most efficient approach to making commercial electric air travel a reality with available technology. This order from MONTE supplements other recent orders for the hybrid-electric aircraft and confirms the strong interest that many commercial operators have in the new technology. MONTE has a goal of becoming the first carbon neutral aircraft leasing company in the world by 2027, and by choosing Ampaire, the company conveys that it believes the Eco Caravan will be the first available aircraft to achieve this goal.

Source // Ampaire press release

LIFT Aircraft, developer of a personal electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle based in Austin, announced on Friday that they’ve signed a Letter of Intent with Charm Aviation to bring flight tours to customers in New York City as early as next year. Charm Aviation is one of the largest helicopter operators on the east coast, with a number of operations already running in New York City.

LIFT’s goal with this LOI is to put their concept of “personal aviation” to practice – to provide a service where anyone will be able to learn to fly their semi-autonomous eVTOL aircraft in less than an hour, and then solo pilot the single seat, ultralight vehicle, without needing a pilot’s license.

LIFT’s unique design allows for flights in uncongested areas and uncontrolled airspace in accordance with FAA regulations. Accoridngly, LIFT and Charm will need to make investments in new vertiports along the Hudson and East rivers in NYC or invest in existing spaces for operation bases for these flights. Further, their altitudes will be limited to 1,300′ AGL and within the uncontrolled Class G airspace in New York to deconflict from other traffic.

HEXA is approved to fly under the FAA’s Part 103 rules, and no pilot’s license is required to fly for personal, non-commercial use.

Charm Aviation operates one of the largest helicopter fleets on the East Coast, with operations in New York, New Jersey, and Baltimore. The ownership group has a combined 40 years of experience operating helicopter fleets and has experience operating heliports in Manhattan.

Under the terms of the agreement, LIFT and Charm will establish a joint venture that will have exclusive license from LIFT to operate in the greater NYC area. The parties have agreed to a pre-order for 100 HEXA eVTOL aircraft that they intend to deploy to multiple LIFT vertiport locations they will jointly develop in the greater NYC area over the next five years.

Why it’s important: This LOI represents the deployment of one of the first personal aerial vehicles to a congested, multi-modal transportation center on the east coast. LIFT and the Charm will have considerable integration work to tackle with New York city officials in addition to the FAA to select the first vertiport site and begin flight trials next year. Demand for such flights will likely be high following approval, so it’s crucial that discussions between NYC officials, New York air traffic management, and Charm, the operator, are in alignment to present a coordinated rollout of this exciting offering. Further, constraints on locations approved for the HEXA aircraft are planned to be implemented via geo-fencing to ensure safety and dedicated operational airspace for this effort.

Read the full press release here.

Lilium, developer of the all-electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) Lilium Jet, has announced a partnership with GlobeAir. Under the agreement, GlobeAir intends to purchase 12 Lilium Jets to provide premium and business eVTOL flights to its customer base in the French Riviera and Italy.

GlobeAir is Europe’s leading and award-winning private jet operator offering on demand charter services to over 900 airports. GlobeAir is renowned for its innovative leveraging of data analytics for the optimization of operations, pricing and empty legs to benefit its discerning end customers.

Related:

• Lilium and Helity to Develop High Speed Electric Air Mobility Network in Southern Spain
• AAP Aviation to develop electric regional air mobility in Norway with the Lilium Jet

Bernhard Fragner, CEO GlobeAir, said: “We are proud to be partnering with Lilium as they are changing how we think about aviation and revolutionizing how people travel. Technological breakthroughs, a forward-thinking mindset and a drive to deliver quality time that fits customer expectations have propelled Lilium to the forefront of next-generation air travel.’’

Sebastien Borel, SVP Commercial, Lilium, said: “We are thrilled to be partnering with one of the leading European providers in on-demand air mobility, GlobeAir. The French Riviera and Italy are key markets, and we are confident that our shared commitment to innovation and partnership will result in a premium customer experience.”

Lilium has also recently achieved key milestones in its progress toward testing and certifying its production aircraft. The current Phoenix 2 prototype was shown in a short video to have completed transition in June 2022. Just weeks ago, another video was published demonstrating the vehicle reaching winged flight speeds of over 180 kph (112 mph).

Why it’s important: The Lilium Jet will complement GlobeAir’s current offerings in the French Riviera and Italy with a first and last mile service. Enabling considerable time savings for customers, the partnership will exemplify the all-in-one travel experience GlobeAir specializes in. With high demand for a sustainable, efficient and flexible mode of transport, Italy and southern France also offers many opportunities for point-to-point travels where travel time can be significantly reduced, and vertical landing is required.

The Port of Rotterdam Authority announced on October 24th that they’ve selected Airwayz as their partner to build the U-Space Airspace prototype for the port industrial complex.

The partnership will be over a period of two years in which the U-Space services will be set up and the Airwayz unmanned traffic management (UTM) system will be configured to the ports’ needs and requirements.

The Port of Rotterdam Authority believes that monitoring the lower airspace and offering UAS traffic services will in the future greatly support drone services and allow them to thrive. Another primary goal of the U-space is to increase the safety and efficiency of drone services and prepare for the next generation of advanced airspace operations.

Drone services, including surveillance, inspection, incident control, combating crime and drug smuggling, are already making the port area safer and will increase efficiencies across many other port processes. A step further from existing services are delivery drone flights, for instance, delivering parts on board a ship, or take cargo samples before the ship arrives in the port. U-Space services will accelerate these flights. Yet another step further is the hybrid port of the future, in which drones will play a role in freight and passenger transport alongside vessels, trains and trucks.

The Port of Rotterdam is preparing its airspace and procedures for the future and has taken on an investigative role in the expected rise in volume of air traffic. The prototype will provide answers to questions about how to organize and control the low altitude airspace in the port in a way that ensures safety while also expanding opportunities for commercial growth and better processes. PoR’s acceleration of these types of operation will help answer key questions related to the future of unmanned system airspace integration, for both drones and eVTOLs alike.

The prototyping stage for PoR’s U-space is planned to cover a period of two years. In this period PoR and Airwayz will co-operate with the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management for the purpose of developing the governance, finance and legal framework for airspace management. The practical experiences, as gained by the prototype, will feed back to regulators.

Why it’s important: The Port of Rotterdam and Airwayz will work together over the coming years to develop experience related to U-space airspace integration in a controlled environment that will accelerate integration efforts and help to increase understanding of key issues that face unmanned air traffic management (UTM) that must be resolved prior to deployment of aerial mobility traffic at scale. This testbed airspace then is importantly distinguished from operational airspaces in that it’ll iterate to handle larger and more complex load factors over time. PoR has also interestingly questioned whether they’ll maintain some level of authority over the resulting airspace in the long run or if governmental agencies will integrate lower altitude airspace into their domains.

Toray Advanced Composites has strengthened their commercial partnership with Specialty Materials this October at CAMX 2022. The joint collaboration will improve the supply chain by uniting Specialty’s boron fiber with Toray Composite Materials America’s domestically produced high-strength intermediate modulus carbon fibers T1100G and a variety of Toray Advanced Composites’ resin systems including toughened epoxies, cyanate esters, bismaleimides, and polyimides for the Specialty Materials’ Gen 2 Hy-Bor® product family.

The Composites and Advanced Materials Expo (CAMX) 2022 is currently taking place in Anaheim, CA from October 17-20. The exposition is the largest, most comprehensive composites and advanced materials event in North America.

Toray and Specialty Materials’ next-generation product family is a high-performance hybrid prepreg tailored to enhance the structural efficiency of composite structures such as spars, longerons, rotors, and control surfaces for aerospace applications by tuning compression and stiffness properties. “Our relationship with Toray Advanced Composites has enabled this unique prepreg portfolio which provides engineering teams new options for optimizing performance of composite structures,” said Monica Rommel, CEO of Specialty Materials.

This commercial partnership enables engineers to easily control and manage key variables for unique solution innovations with domestically produced high-quality products within the US supply chain. “Toray Advanced Composites partnership with Specialty Materials leverages both companies’ technologies to tailor a solution to the most demanding applications,” commented Joe Morris, Director of DoD programs from Toray Advanced Composites.

Related:

• Overair Selects Toray for Advanced Composite Materials in Butterfly eVTOL Prototype – July 2022
• Lilium Jet to be Fitted with Toray Industries High Performance Composite Materials – July 2020

Why it’s important: As many eVTOL and air taxi OEMs near production-ready designs and begin manufacturing at scale, they will increasingly be reliant on dependable suppliers to provide affordable composite assemblies. Many OEMs are creating one-of-a-kind airframes with unique geometries that can only be achieved via custom composite structures with top-grade materials. The partnership between Toray and Specialty Materials is likely to culminate in a source of structural components for these nascent air taxi manufacturers, such as Overair, Lilium, and Joby Aviation who already have long-term contracts with Toray.

Electric short takeoff and landing aircraft maker Electra announced today that it has signed a letter of intent that brings Electra’s total aircraft orders to over 1,000 aircraft, which the company states is worth approximately $3 billion.

The aircraft sale was signed with private air mobility provider Welojets, LLC for 32 electric short takeoff and landing aircraft at the National Business Aviation Association Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition in Orlando, Florida.

Welojets joins a broad range of customers for Electra’s climate-friendly eSTOL aircraft including urban and regional airlines, charter operators, VIP transport, medical and emergency response transport, and helicopter operators. Electra’s customers are both established aircraft operators as well as new entrants re-defining how we move and transport goods using Electra’s next-generation eSTOL aircraft, and include Bristow Group, flyv, EBIRD, Harbour Air, Tailwind Air, Ravn Alaska, MintAir, Everts Air Cargo, Yugo, Gold Aviation, Skyportz, Flapper, Northwest Seaplanes, and El Azufre Resort. The global reach of Electra’s order book means that customers will fly in the US, Latin America, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Australia.

Electra is currently developing a hybrid eSTOL aircraft that will enable people and cargo to transit more rapidly, safely, and affordably within urban and regional networks. The plane’s ability to take off and land in a space the size of a soccer field yet cruise at 175 knots, with in-flight battery recharging, enables flight operations from places previously inaccessible by flight including converted parking lots, barges, and very short landing strips. The piloted fixed-wing aircraft will initially carry up to nine passengers or 2500 pounds of cargo up to 400 nautical miles in all weather conditions.

Why it’s important: Electra’s order book is now substantially strong with four digits worth and multiple billions of orders in their backlog. The company will need to remain focused on operationalizing their production line and also balance their scale-up to meet that demand with considerable resources expended on flight testing their new eSTOL. While the eSTOL is similar enough to fixed wing aircraft enabling certification via more traditional aircraft classifications than some other eVTOL aircraft, its unique systems will require special attention and analysis in order to obtain a type certificate in the United States.