• 07 Jul 2025 04:08 AM
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eVTOL Leaders Mature

By Mike Hirschberg, VFS Director of Strategy

This is an extended version of the article published in the July/Aug 2025 issue of Vertiflite.

Since the last issue of Vertiflite, the leading electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developers completed impressive demonstrations, partnerships and fundraising to continue their progress toward certification. Updates from mid-April through mid-June are covered here — not including news from the Paris Air Show, held June 16–22. For updates in Asia, see Chinese eVTOL Aircraft Directory, Part 2, Vertiflite, Jul/Aug 2025.

Archer Aviation

As reported last issue, Santa Clara, California-based Archer Aviation plans to deliver its first piloted Midnight aircraft to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and begin flight testing with it later this year. In April and May, Archer made several announcements that show its preparations toward this aim.

The UAE’s aviation regulator, the General Civil Aviation Agency (GCAA), approved the design for the planned transformation of the Abu Dhabi Cruise Terminal helipad into a hybrid heliport for both helicopter and eVTOL aircraft operations, Archer announced on April 23. The goal is for this location to become the first site ready for eVTOL aircraft operations in the UAE, providing direct access to the Abu Dhabi Port, the Louvre Abu Dhabi, Saadiyat Island and the Corniche. Archer also hires former UAE attaché and retired Brig. Gen. Cristiano Tartaglione as the company’s chief operating officer for UAE operations.

On May 15, Archer announced that it was selected as the “Official Air Taxi Provider of the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games and Team USA” in an exclusive partnership. The agreement sees Archer and the Los Angeles Organizing Committee for the 2028 Summer Olympics working to integrate Archer’s Midnight eVTOL aircraft across the LA28 Games in a variety of ways, such as transporting VIPs, fans and stakeholders; electrifying vertiport takeoff-and-landing hubs for key venues; and providing support for emergency services and security.

Also in mid-May, Archer and Anduril Industries UK — supported by Skyports Drone Services and AtkinsRéalis — announced that they would team up to test dual-use eVTOL cargo aircraft in the UK market. Anduril will serve as the lead systems integrator, incorporating software-defined mission autonomy, communications and command-and-control systems tailored for UK operational needs. Archer will act as the platform provider, adapting the Midnight platform for dualuse applications and continuing its work with Anduril on the planned hybrid aircraft. Skyports Drone Services complements this with its operational experience, having delivered numerous beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) services for major clients in the UK.

On June 2, Archer announced that it had made its first crewed flight of an eVTOL aircraft, its Midnight P1 prototype (shown). FlightAware.com shows that the first flight was on Friday, May 30, and the aircraft (N703AX) began flying regularly. The company’s two previous demonstrators, Maker (N301AX) and Midnight P0 (N302AX), were both uncrewed.

Archer chief test pilot Jeff Greenwood made a conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) flight from the company’s test site at Salinas Municipal Airport in Salinas, California. Greenwood joined the company in 2021, providing invaluable insight while focusing on cockpit design, including vendor selection for the display and other equipment. A US Marine Corps pilot for 13 years, he is a graduate of the United States Naval Test Pilot School. Before joining Archer, Greenwood served as a test pilot for Bell Textron, where he helped develop, test and certify industry-leading rotorcraft.

During the flight, N703AX cruised at speeds up to 125 mph (200 km/h) and reached an altitude of over 1,500-ft (460-m) above ground level during the flight. Not yet ready for a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) flight, this flight demonstrated that Midnight’s landing gear is capable of performing CTOL operations, providing both operational flexibility and enhanced safety.

Finally, Archer announced on June 12 that it had raised an additional $850M. This new capital bolsters Archer’s already strong balance sheet, the company stated, and “cements [its] position of leading the industry with a pro forma liquidity position of approximately $2B.” With this balance sheet, Archer said it is well positioned to execute across its engineering, certification and commercialization efforts in the US and abroad.

In an article published on June 11, The Air Current’s Elan Head noted that Archer had tested two-, three- and fourbladed lift propellers. She had previously reported that Archer used three-bladed lift props for its Maker transition flights and four-bladed ones for its Midnight P0 transitions, while P1 flew with two-bladed lift props. “Archer chief technology officer Tom Muniz confirmed that the company now plans to certify Midnight with four-bladed lifting propellers, rather than the original two-bladed propellers,” Head reported, to increase the frequency and reduce the amplitude of vibrations during edgewise flight. The final design uses unequally spaced blades, likely to reduce drag and vibrations in cruise when the propellers aren’t spinning, as well as a small reduction in noise during vertical operations.

Beta Technologies

Beta Technologies has continued conducting impressive demonstrations over the past two months with its electric CTOL Alia CX300 demonstrators in the US and Europe.

On May 15, the company announced that Sinclair Community College, a public college in Dayton, Ohio, had agreed to purchase an Alia CTOL and a flight simulator. With these, the school will grow its aviation training program offerings to include advanced air mobility (AAM) and electric aviation.

Beta flew its Alia CTOL (N214BT) to Wilmington Airport (ILG) in Delaware, on April 28, and then transported via cargo ship to Ireland, and made its first European flight at Shannon Airport on May 21. In a ceremony two days later, Beta announced that it was the first in a series of planned stops that it would make across the continent, eventually culminating in the delivery of the aircraft to longtime customer, Bristow, for operational previews in Norway.

N214BT later crossed the Irish Sea to Liverpool John Lennon Airport — a flight of 153-nm (283 km) — then across the UK, stopping for visits with Vertical Aviation in Coventry, the Empire Test Pilots' School (ETPS) at Boscombe Down and Farnborough Airport, with many demonstration flights, including a flyby of the White Cliffs of Dover (shown). According to Beta and FlightAware.com, the aircraft left Lydd Airport (LYX) on June 4, crossed the English Channel on a 73-minute, 145-nm (270 km) flight to Pontoise Cormeilles Airport (POX) in France. After a short hop, Alia arrived at Paris Le Bourget Airport (LBG) on June 7 for the Paris Air Show.

On June 4, the same day N214BT crossed the English Channel, another Alia CTOL landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York City. N916LF was the first allelectric aircraft to land at one of the city’s three major airports. The aircraft left East Hampton Airport (JPX) at 10:24 a.m., flew down Long Island over the water, and landed at JFK at 11:13 a.m., covering 92 nm (170 km). This historic, 45-minute first flight to JFK flew with a pilot and four people, including Matt Koscal, president of Republic Airways, and Rob Wiesenthal, CEO of Blade Air Mobility; both companies plan to operate Alia aircraft.

Although Beta has been primarily flying the CTOL prototypes, the company told VFS that it is also “making some exciting progress on the VTOL front, with a build on the production line as we speak. We'll be doing more testing on that front this summer.”

Chris Rocheleau, the Acting Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator, and Wendy O’Connor, Executive Director of the FAA’s Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) Integration Office (which also includes AAM), visited Beta’s Burlington, Vermont, headquarters on June 6. “We discussed our progress toward certification, bringing this technology to market, and the flights we’ve been conducting in the national airspace across the country.” The groups also had the opportunity to talk through President Trump’s Executive Order on UAS and eVTOL commercialization (see “Washington Report,” pg. XX).

Eve Air Mobility

On May 12, Melbourne, Florida-based Eve Air Mobility, a subsidiary of Brazilian airline manufacturer Embraer, published its first-quarter 2025 results, showing “solid progress across engineering, operations, and partnerships.”

The annual shareholder’s letter noted that the full-scale prototype was progressing toward first flight, now with the lift motors being tested (in addition to the pusher motors). The company is also making continued progress with its iron bird, test rigs and flight simulator. The uncrewed engineering demonstrator was rolled out in July 2024 and is expected to make its first flight later this year in Gavião Peixoto, Brazil. It will be used to “validate multiple stages of our eVTOL’s flight envelope, including the transition between the vertical and horizontal phases of flight.”

Using lessons learned from the demonstrator, Eve plans to build five prototypes for the certification campaign, with an option for a sixth test aircraft if needed. The company is operating at a former Embraer site in the city of Taubaté, São Paulo, Brazil, and is advancing its global supply chain to build the conforming aircraft, while the facilities are being readied to begin assembly.

Separately, Eve announced that it had received a $15.8M public grant to boost digital and sustainable aviation from Finep, Brazil’s funding authority for studies and projects. Combined with Eve’s own contributions, the total project investment amounts to $33.8M.

As a teaser to the Paris Air Show, Eve highlighted configuration updates on June 11. The air taxi will now have an option for a wheeled landing gear (in addition to skids) and will feature lightweight seats developed in conjunction with Recaro, as well as an intuitive, four-axis, sidestick-only cockpit developed with Garmin and Crouzet. Eve also highlighted that its “globally shippable, Embraer-optimized wing design — spanning 15 meters [49 ft] yet modular for standard container transport” — features a single actuator and aileron per side with no flaps.

Notably, Eve updated its lift thrusters from a two-bladed design. The fixed-pitch lift propellers feature “an innovative and patented four-blade design” that are essentially two pairs of two-bladed propellers that are stopped and folded to autonomously align with the pylons during the cruise phase. “This design enhances performance and safety with builtin redundancy, and reduces noise and drag for quieter, more efficient urban flight operations,” Eve stated.

In the same article in The Air Current mentioned above, Eve’s chief technology officer, Luiz Valentini, explained, “The move to four blades was explicitly made to reduce the vibration induced between the difference in the airflow over the advancing blade versus the one that is retreating while the vehicle transitions between hover and cruise flight with the rotors on.”

Joby Aviation

Like Beta, Santa Cruz, California-based Joby has also demonstrated a level of maturity in its development flight testing. Like Archer, Joby also reported expanded partnerships and additional funds raised.

Joby test pilot James “Buddy” Denham (see “Q&A With Buddy Denham, Joby Aviation,” Vertiflite, Jul/Aug 2025) made the company’s first crewed full transition from vertical to cruise flight and back again on April 22. Joby had made the first transition of its uncrewed Generation 1.0 demonstrator (N541JA) in 2017 (see “Joby Transitions,” Vertiflite, Jan/Feb 2021) and had been conducting crewed flights of its 2.0 demonstrators since 2023. But this flight — made with the latest aircraft to roll off Joby’s Marina, California, production line (N544JX) — was the first transition of a Joby aircraft with the pilot onboard.

The company made the announcement on April 29, stating that by then, Joby had made “multiple transition flights with three different pilots at the controls, as Joby becomes the first company to routinely perform inhabited testing of an electric air taxi from hover to wingborne flight.”

As noted in the last issue, Joby has completed more than 40,000 miles (64,375 km) during test flights across multiple aircraft, including hundreds of transitions from vertical takeoff to cruise flight as well as more than a hundred flights with a pilot onboard in hover and low-speed flight. Beyond flying at multiple locations in California, Joby has made demonstration flights in New York City, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

On May 9, Joby flew two air taxis (N541JX and N544JX) simultaneously from Marina. “With six aircraft in our test fleet, flying multiple aircraft at a time will play an important role in accelerating our certification testing and supporting our plans to carry our first passengers next year,” said Joby CEO JoeBen Bevirt.

Meanwhile, on May 7, Joby published its quarterly shareholder letter and announced that it had appointed chief financial officer (CTO), Rodrigo Brumana, “a seasoned Silicon Valley CFO, with experience scaling complex global finance operations” at companies like HP, Amazon, eBay and Poshmark. Joby also announced the closing of the first half of a $500M previously announced strategic investment from Toyota Motor Corporation.

Finally, on June 3, Joby and Abdul Latif Jameel, an 80-year-old network of diversified businesses, announced they had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore opportunities to establish a distribution agreement in Saudi Arabia for Joby’s electric aircraft. This announcement builds upon the renewed economic partnership between the US and Saudi governments toward shared innovation and transportation growth. Potential delivery of up to 200 Joby aircraft and related services valued at approximately $1B are expected by the businesses over the coming years. In the long term, Abdul Latif Jameel and Joby also see potential revenue opportunities across the Middle East. The Jameel family had invested in Joby’s Series C funding round, led by Toyota, in 2020.

Supernal

On April 22, Aviation International News (AIN) revealed that Supernal, the Hyundai Motor Group's AAM subsidiary, had begun flight tests of its full-scale technology demonstrator on March 1. This lift+cruise demonstrator came to light in February (see “eVTOL Leaders Separate from the Pack,” Vertiflite, March/April 2024) and differs significantly from the S-A2 vectored-thrust production concept but is being used to test various subsystems and build flight testing capabilities. AIN also noted that GKN Aerospace “provided over 70% of the airframe for the technology demonstrator that has now started flight testing, including the wing and electrical wiring system.”

Flight testing is ongoing, with Supernal saying that it planned to wrap up activities in June, according to an article in FlightGlobal. Supernal says it expects the S-A2 to enter service around 2028. No photo has been provided by Supernal, but in February, the demonstrator was seen at the Mojave Air & Space Port by passing photographer Matt Hartman of Shorealone Films (shown).

Vertical Aerospace

Bristol, England-based Vertical Aerospace had several important accomplishments and announcements over the past two months.

Vertical made a major announcement on May 12. In addition to its five-seat, battery-electric VX4 product, it is also developing a hybrid-electric variant for increased range and payload, which the company says will enable new potential applications in defense, logistics and commercial sectors, including air ambulance services.

The company said that its “second-generation hybrid-propulsion system” had been in development for the preceding 18 months at its Vertical Energy Centre and will be retrofitted into one of the VX4 prototypes, with flight testing expected next spring. Vertical highlighted key advantages of the planned hybridelectric variant:

• Range: Up to 1,000 miles (1,600 km), a 10-fold increase
• Payload: Up to 2,425 lb (1,100 kg)
• Stealth: Low noise and heat signatures
• Piloting: Autonomous, remotely piloted or crewed

On May 22, the company’s second VX4 prototype (G-EVTA) made what the company called the “first-ever piloted wingborne flight of a winged eVTOL in European open airspace” — even though it was a CTOL flight. The flight was piloted by Vertical chief test pilot Simon Davies, and Vertical said it was on track for a piloted transition flight in the second half of 2025.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) approved the flight through open airspace at Cotswold Airport (GBA), the UK’s largest private airport, by extending Vertical’s Permit to Fly. This followed a rigorous review of tens of thousands of pages of safety and technical documentation.

Vertical highlighted that the VX4 is being developed under a CAA Design Organisation Approval (DOA), which is required to hold a type certificate, required for commercial passenger operations. The CAA is working closely with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for their concurrent validation and certifying the VX4 to the highest safety standards required for commercial use, the same as for commercial airliners; the theoretical likelihood of a catastrophic failure resulting in loss of continued safe flight and landing must be no greater than one in a billion flight hours (10-⁹).

Meanwhile, on May 8, Vertical and Honeywell announced the signing of a new long-term agreement — with a potential $1B projected contract value over the next decade — that expands their existing partnership and will “unlock speed and efficiencies in delivering Vertical’s VX4 aircraft to customers.”

Both companies will work together to certify two of the most critical systems on the production VX4: the aircraft management system, which includes the Honeywell Anthem Flight deck, and the flight controls system, which includes Honeywell’s compact fly-by-wire system. The Anthem flight deck combines cockpit displays, software, controls and connectivity into one smart, digital platform. It is designed to be intuitive and highly automated, helping pilots make better, faster decisions.

On June 6, Vertical and Bristow Group announced an expansion of their strategic partnership launched in 2021. Bristow will leverage its global operational footprint, including multiple Air Operator Certificates (AOCs), and its global maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) network approvals to offer fully managed operations for Vertical’s current and future customers. This “ready-to-fly” model will provide Vertical’s customers with turnkey access to aircraft, pilots, maintenance and insurance — lowering barriers to entry. Under the partnership, Bristow has also placed a preorder for up to 50 VX4 aircraft, with the option to purchase up to 50 more.

Vertical also announced four additions to its Board of Directors. James Keith “JK” Brown, Kris Haber and Carsten Stendevad bring business development expertise, a deep understanding of capital markets and experience scaling growth-stage companies. Lord Andrew Parker strengthens the company in the areas of defense, national security and government affairs. Lord Parker brings deep experience in national security and intelligence from a distinguished career serving the UK government, most notably as the former Director General of MI5, the UK Government’s national security agency.

Volocopter Aerospace

As noted in the last issue, the renamed Volocopter Aerospace — now a subsidiary of Austria’s Diamond Aircraft Group, itself owned by China’s Wanfeng Aircraft Industry Co., Ltd. — returned its two-seat VoloCity prototype (shown) to the air during the week of March 17. Since then, the Bruchsal, Germany-based eVTOL developer has continued working toward certification.

In May, Volocopter posted on social media that it was continuing its flight testing. “The team collected multiple data points during the test flight, building up speeds between 44 to 55 knots [80– 100 km/h] at low altitudes. The test data gathered is vital to validate functionality and safe operations.”

Later in the month, the company posted about its iron bird, “a sophisticated ground-based test rig that simulates the VoloCity system. It enables us to rigorously test and validate the integration and functionality of various systems, including avionics, flight controls, and electrical systems before they take to the skies.” Testing is contributing toward the company’s certification progress by helping to ensure seamless interaction between all components, identify and resolve potential problems in advance, provide data to enhance system performance and safety, facilitate iterative testing and refinement of components and systems, and enhance safety.

Wisk Aero

Mountain View, California-based Wisk Aero, a wholly owned subsidiary of Boeing, is continuing the development of its autonomous Generation 6 air taxi and the requisite autonomous airspace integration for passenger-carrying AAM operations.

On April 29, Wisk gave a status update of their first full-scale demonstrator: “All 12 Electric Propulsion Units (EPUs) have been installed onto our first Gen 6 aircraft.”

On May 7, Wisk announced that its CEO for the past two years, Dr. Brian Yutko, was appointed as the Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice president of product development. Sebastien Vigneron (shown), previously the Wisk senior vice president of engineering and programs, is the new CEO. Vigneron “has been an instrumental leader at Wisk since joining us in 2021. His 20+ years of aviation and aircraft development expertise will propel us into our next critical phase as a company,” Wisk said.

Wisk also noted that the FAA’s Rocheleau, O’Connor and other officials visited Wisk’s Mountain View, California, facilities, and the company again showed off a full-scale mock-up to Rocheleau and other FAA officials at the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) XPONENTIAL Show in Houston, Texas, in May. Wisk is targeting Houston as one of its early launch regions.

Wisk announced on May 20 that it had signed a new five-year non-reimbursable Space Act Agreement (SAA) with NASA. This agreement focuses on critical research led by NASA’s Air Traffic Management Exploration (ATM-X) project aimed at advancing autonomous aircraft under instrument flight rules (IFR) in the National Airspace System (NAS). The two entities have collaborated since 2020 under an initial SSA to develop key guidance for the safe integration of autonomous aircraft systems for AAM operations.

Finally, on June 9, Wisk announced that sister Boeing subsidiary SkyGrid was being realigned as a subsidiary of Wisk. Based in Austin, Texas, SkyGrid builds high-assurance third-party services to enable the safe operation and integration of autonomous aircraft. SkyGrid will support Wisk’s future operations with tailored digital solutions that enhance real-time situational awareness, seamless airspace integration and advanced decision-making.

Subscribe to the VFS Electric VTOL Newsletter for regular updates on eVTOL developments: www.eVTOL.news.