Latest News

Belgium-based aerostructures specialist Sonaca will oversee the design and engineering transition from the current Cassio testbed to the production versions of the four- to 10-seat hybrid-electric aircraft family.

Pal-V has secured European approval for road operation of its flying car, the Liberty, following an extensive drive test program conducted since February that included high-speed ovals, brake, and emission tests, as well as noise-pollution testing. The company is now eyeing EASA certification for flight in 2022.

The new Unmanned Civil Aviation Experimental Zones will give China's autonomous aviation industry more opportunity to develop technology and early operations across 13 Chinese cities.

Through a partnership with Lufthansa Industry Solutions, Volocopter is building a software platform, VololQ, that will run on the Microsoft Azure cloud-based service to manage the entire ecosystem of its planned UAM network. The platform would connect the various facets of a UAM network, from the local authorities to the transportation providers, flight and ground operations, and customer services.

Uber Elevate head Eric Allison provided an update on the group's plans to launch ride-hailing services with eVTOL aircraft during Invest in Bavaria's Urban Air Mobility 2020 conference. He said the company does not expect disruption from the Covid-19 pandemic to delay its plans to begin operations during 2023.

Jaunt Air Mobility, PS&S, and Price Systems are joining efforts to prepare the growing urban air mobility (UAM) industry for flight operations with customers on board. PS&S is an architectural firm and Price Systems is a cost-estimation technology company.

Denmark-based Falck says it is setting up initial test operations with an unnamed "technical partner" to use manned eVTOL aircraft for emergency response work. The company has 25,000 employees in 30 countries.

Safety, noise, and economics are among some of the key challenges in developing an infrastructure for urban air mobility, according to a panel of experts speaking at a session on infrastructure at Invest in Bavaria's recent Urban Air Mobility 2020: Future of Aerial Transport & Logistics conference.

Tecnam says the short- to medium-range P-Volt aircraft will be ready to enter commercial service during the second half of the 2020s. It has not yet specified projected performance for an aircraft that will be based on its latest piston-powered P2012 model.