Ascent Partners with Embraer for 100 Eve eVTOLs

Eve Urban Air Mobility, a subsidiary of Embraer, has agreed to provide 100 of its eVTOL platforms to aviation taxi platform Ascent, to be used in Melbourne, Manila, Singapore, and Tokyo as soon as 2026. According to Andre Stein, president and CEO of Eve, “Ascent is one of the greatest players of Urban Air Mobility in the Asia-Pacific and its strong presence in the region makes it an ideal partner for Eve’s operations.The region holds a massive demand for transportation disruption that can be filled with our low-emission aircraft. This is the right recipe for sustainable growth.”

The Eve eVTOL aircraft. Photograph: Eve Urban Air Mobility

The news follows an earlier agreement in June 2021, and Ascent hopes to utilize Eve’s zero-emission low noise eVTOL aircraft and possibly their Urban Air Traffic Management (UATM) system, both of which are currently being trialled in conjunction with the UK Civil Aviation Authority. According to Clem Newton-Brown, CEO of air taxi landing infrastructure startup Skyportz and chair of the Advanced Air Mobility working group of the Australian Association for Unmanned Systems, “This announcement is very exciting – Embraer is one of the frontrunners in developing an electric air taxi and we welcome this announcement and look forward to working with them to develop routes and destinations. We are working with a number of air taxi designers who will be utilising our sites. Without the landing sites this new form of transport would be very limited. We have been working with property, freight and logistics partners for some years and have a stable of sites ready to take to the next step.”

Eve and Ascent’s partnership will also aid in Eve’s development of UATM solutions.“The creation of the UAM ecosystem requires innovative solutions, which is also a fundamental pillar of Embraer’s growth strategy for the coming years, and EmbraerX was built to address these needs,” said Daniel Moczydlower, president and CEO of EmbraerX, of which Eve is its first spin-off. “Through this partnership, we are jointly embarking on the first steps toward Australia becoming one of the world’s first Urban Air Mobility markets.”

The Eve eVTOL aircraft. Photograph: Eve Urban Air Mobility

Why it’s important: The partnership between Eve and Ascent looks to vastly accelerate the development of UATM solutions and aerial mobility in general, creating the initial infrastructure and resources for an aerial mobility ecosystem in several metropolitan areas. With this agreement, both companies envision a successful initial integration, followed by an elevation of aerial mobility operations to scale. 

Source // Australian Aviation