• 29 Apr 2024 11:26 PM
• 0

Airbus Unveils CityAirbus Prototype

On March 8, Airbus unveiled its CityAirbus NextGen prototype eVTOL aircraft. The CityAirbus NextGen features a 40-ft (12-m) wingspan and is expected to have a capacity of one pilot and three passengers. At the same time, Airbus formally inaugurated the company’s new test center in Donauwörth, Germany, where it plans on evaluating the systems for its eVTOL aircraft. The Donauwörth test center—located at the Airbus Helicopters Deutschland plant—launched initial operations in December 2023 and will serve as the focus of test activities ahead of the company’s planned maiden flight of the CityAirbus later in the year. Airbus unveiled the CityAirbus NextGen in September 2021 (see “Airbus Reveals NextGen eVTOL concept,” Vertiflite, Nov/Dec 2021); it is the successor to the first-generation CityAirbus demonstrator, which Airbus revealed in 2019.