FutureFlight

In preparation for the construction of its prototype eVTOL aircraft, set to begin in the second half of this year, Eve Air Mobility is lining up suppliers and conducting tests of various components to finalize the design.

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Boeing has acquired the shares in Wisk Aero formerly owned by the founders of now-defunct eVTOL aircraft developer Kitty Hawk. Wisk will operate as a wholly owned Boeing subsidiary as it works to bring a four-seat fully autonomous eVTOL vehicle into commercial service and says it is close to securing a Part 135 operator's certificate.

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Brazil's Moya Aero says it is developing Latin America's first high-capacity autonomous aircraft for applications such as crop spraying and freight deliveries. The company is close to completing the construction of a 70 percent scale technology demonstrator of the all-electric vehicle as it prepares to start flight testing in September.

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TruWeather says its V360° software-as-a-service weather data analytics and forecasting technology can provide operators of piloted eVTOL aircraft and uncrewed aircraft systems with vital real-time information and forecasting about highly localized, low-altitude meteorological conditions. This has prompted eVTOL vehicle developer Supernal to invest in the company so that it can integrate the technology into its plans to build and operate a four-passenger vehicle in urban areas where high buildings can distort wind patterns.

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H55, a spin-off from the Solar Impulse team that flew around the world on energy from the sun, is teaming with Vmo Aircraft Leasing to offer financing options to help aircraft operators and manufacturers to switch to electric propulsion. Initially, H55's primary focus will be on providing electric propulsion systems and batteries for light aircraft, such as trainers, but the company is also supporting Pratt & Whitney Canada's plans for a hybrid-electric regional airliner.

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Three years on from establishing a dedicated UAS/UAM division, Honeywell Aerospace has won the trust of multiple new eVTOL aircraft developers. The company is making progress with electric propulsion technology, as well as avionics and flight controls.

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Surf Air Mobility is looking to raise capital for its plans to bring electric aircraft into commercial service by seeking a New York Stock Exchange listing, plus VPorts kicks off the certification process for its planned network of vertiports in the UAE, a South Korean eVTOL vehicle developer welcomes the vice mayor of Irvine, California, to its headquarters, and Jump Aero says it has been developing an "electronic parachute" for the U.S. Air Force to improve eVTOL air safety.

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On the Radar
Airports Urged To Make Advanced Air Mobility and Electric Aircraft a Key Part of Their Future

Major airport infrastructure projects can take anywhere from five to 20 years, with the associated capital investment periods generally running over five years. Given that no major airport in the world currently appears to have an active plan to add vertiports for eVTOL aircraft, this begs the question as to how the companies promising commercial flights from 2025 propose to access these vital gateways.

This is the conundrum being addressed by major civil engineering groups like WSP that are seeking to prepare airports to play their part in the highly anticipated if overhyped advanced air mobility (AAM) sector. The U.S. company’s senior aviation planner and technical principal, Gaël Le Bris, is helping Philadelphia International Airport to include provisions for vertiports in its new master plan.

Under commissions from the U.S. Transportation Research Board, WSP has developed planning documents for vertiports as part of the effort to find a place at airports for new electric aircraft. A pair of reports prepared under the board’s Airport Cooperative Research Program provide useful planning tools for airports seeking a piece of the action, namely Preparing Your Airport for Electric Aircraft and Hydrogen Technology and Urban Air Mobility: An Airport Perspective.

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Destinus believes it can build a hypersonic airliner that can carry 200 or more passengers and shrink travel times between continents flying at five times the speed of sound. That could mean flying from Europe to Australia in just four hours. But it wants to achieve this with zero carbon emissions and that means hydrogen propulsion. The European company has just achieved a first flight with a technology demonstrator aircraft using the afterburner it has developed—the first of its type to run on hydrogen and the first deployed on a civil aircraft. 

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UPCOMING EVENTS
 
June 19 - 25, 2023 / Paris

The Paris Air Show is back after a four-year, Covid-inflicted gap. Alongside Farnborough in the UK, the seven-day event in June is one of the world's two preeminent international air shows. This year, it will feature several leading players from the world of advanced air mobility, alongside hundreds of global aerospace and defense companies.

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