2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

Charlotte Bailey

News and developments about airplanes, helicopters and unmanned air vehicles used in all varieties of operations, including airlines, military, business, commercial, general aviation and private.

Atea airframe to be fitted with hybrid-electric propulsion system 

Ascendance’s VTOL Aircraft Enters Final Integration Phase

Charles Alcock

News and developments about aircraft engines, including turbofan, turboprop, turboshaft and piston.

News and issues relating to civil and military unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) of all kinds and sizes, including those used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), combat (unmanned combat air vehicles, or UCAVs), law enforcement, research and other applications. Of particular focus is the FAA's planned integration of UAS into the U.S. national airspace system.

Memorandums of understanding cover its Atea VTOL aircraft and the Sterna propulsion system

Ascendance Launches Hybrid-Electric Aviation Partnership in Malaysia

French company is now offering Sterna propulsion system to other aircraft developers

Ascendance Steps Up Assembly of Atea Hybrid-electric VTOL Prototype

News about environmental issues relating to aircraft operations, including noise issues, emissisions, and regulations. See Fuel for biofuel.

News and issues concerning general aviation, specifically airplanes and helicopters powered by piston and alternative engines (i.e., non-turbine powered aircraft). Subjects include aircraft, engines, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security and training.

Daher, Safran, Collins, and Ascendance announce alliance in Paris

French Partners Plan Hybrid-electric Genav Aircraft

News and issues concerning the aviation charter and fractional-ownership industries and markets, including company announcements, regulations, new developments and labor issues.

Philippines-based company signed a letter of intent with France’s Ascendance

Charter Operator Signs for More Atea Hybrid Electric VTOL Aircraft

Hanneke Weitering

Essential news and analysis on the defense aerospace business. Your trusted source for new and ongoing programs and requirements in military aircraft (manned and unmanned), engines, avionics, weapons and associated systems, including ground-based air defense.

Ascendance and Delair partner on hybrid UAV for French DGA 

Ascendance's Hybrid Propulsion System To Power French Drones

First full-scale prototype of the hybrid-electric Atea aircraft is “in the production phase”

Ascendance Plans to Fly Hybrid eVTOL Prototype This Year

French eVTOL aircraft developer Ascendance Flight Technologies, which&nbsp;says it is building sales momentum for its Atea model, announced&nbsp;this week that it now holds letters of intent for 245 copies of&nbsp;the four-passenger vehicle. The commitments have come from a mix of six helicopter operators and private flight providers spread across Europe, the U.S, and Asia.
According to Ascendance’s co-founder and chief customer officer, Thibault Baldivia, the Toulouse-based start-up formed a “Care Group” to provide a channel for prospective operators to have input on the program and to be sure that it is commercially viable. “We are talking a lot with customers to ensure that the machine we are designing will be what they need,” he told FutureFlight. “For instance, we chose to have hybrid-electric [propulsion] to get the range and performance they need.”
The <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/aircraft-program/atea">Atea</a> is expected to be able to fly up to 400 km (250 miles) at speeds of up to 200 km/h (125 mph). The design features eight ducted fan rotors installed in a pair of wings for vertical lift and two propellers for cruise flight.
The customers identified this week include air mobility platforms Evfly and <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2022-02-10/asian-flight-booking-platform-yugo-commits-electras-estol-aircraft">Yugo</a> in Singapore, France-based <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2021-01-18/paris-selects-30-partners-its-urban-air-mobility-initiative">HeliFirst</a> and Jet Systems Helicoptères Services, California-based Flyshare, and Philjets Group in the Philippines. They all have different business models and plans for the Atea.
For instance, Flyshare is an established Part 135 operator that, according to Baldivia, intends to operate regional services, linking communities around the wider Los Angeles area. “Ascendance has implemented several features in the Atea that gives it superior range, speed, and load capacity, [and] matches the needs of our business model extremely well,” commented Flyshare chairman James Hopkins. “We are impressed with Ascendance’s technical decisions with respect to the powerplant and the ability to incrementally improve the emissions profile of the aircraft over the first few years of its introduction into service.”
Philjets intends to use the aircraft to operate a mix of private charters, tourist sightseeing flights, and emergency medical evacuations across the Philippines’s 7,000-island archipelago. The company’s head of sales and marketing, Geoffrey Cahen, said the manufacturer’s willingness to include the company in the development process had encouraged it to make the early commitment to include the Atea in its fleet.
According to Baldivia, eVTOL aircraft like <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2021-12-01/ascendance-reveals-new-design-atea-hybrid-electric-vtol-aircraft">the Atea</a> will have significantly lower maintenance costs than today’s helicopters, mostly by avoiding the need to have a main gearbox and rotors. While no price has yet been disclosed, he indicated that the Atea will likely cost about as much as&nbsp;a similar-sized rotorcraft.
In 2021, Ascendance, which was founded by former Airbus engineers who were&nbsp;involved in its E-Fan electric aircraft program, conducted flight tests with subscale models and extensive wind tunnel test campaigns. It is now working on a full-scale prototype to be ready for the next phase of flight testing in 2023 and has set up an ‘iron bird’ test rig in Toulouse. The company aims to achieve EASA type certification in 2025&nbsp;and to be ready to start deliveries soon after.

Managing Editor

Six Commercial Operators Commit To Adding Atea eVTOL Aircraft to Fleets

Ascendance Flight Technologies this week unveiled a significantly revised design for the Atea hybrid-electric VTOL aircraft that it aims to certify by 2025. The French start-up has spent the past three years detailing plans for the five-seat, lift-and cruise model, which is is expected to deliver a range of &nbsp;250 miles and speeds of 124 mph. 
Digital images released on December 1 show eight ducted fans for vertical lift, with four installed in the main wing and four more in a new large canard, as well a single horizontal propeller at the top of the tail section and another in the nose of the aircraft. An earlier design, released by the Toulouse-based company in February, had just a pair of ducted fans for vertical lift in the inner-wing section and a single three-bladed propeller in the nose.
According to Ascendance, the additional fans&nbsp;increase the power available during takeoff and landing&nbsp;and&nbsp;add redundancy and improve manoeuvrability in the event of one or more fans shutting down in flight. The company told&nbsp;FutureFlight&nbsp;that it also believes the new design will be easier to certify under EASA's Part 23 special conditions rules.
By moving the main wing toward&nbsp;the rear of the airframe, the Ascendance engineering team has improved access to the four-passenger cabin, which now features large&nbsp;"skyview"&nbsp;windows. The Atea has retractable main and nose landing gear.
“We set up Ascendance Flight Technologies with a very clear vision of what we wanted to achieve: to accelerate transition towards green aviation thanks to hybrid technology,” said co-founder and CEO Jean-Christophe Lambert. “The design of Atea is the concrete reflection of our values, our experience, and our know-how. The aircraft we are presenting today is the result of huge efforts by our research and development department, tests and trials on four prototypes, and a great deal of thought on costs and the ease of flying such an&nbsp;aircraft.”
In September, the company raised €10 million ($11.7 million) to support the development of the Atea. It expects to be ready to start flight testing a production-conforming prototype in 2023. 
The Atea is to be powered by Ascendance’s proprietary Sterna hybrid-electric powertrain. The company says that Sterna’s modular design and “embedded intelligence” will allow it to support various energy sources, including sustainable aviation fuel or hydrogen. 
The Atea will use electrical power for takeoff and landing, with a turbine engine powering the cruise phase of flight when less power is needed. This approach is mainly motivated by the desire to reduce noise and emissions.
The company’s founders previously worked on Airbus’s now- suspended E-Fan electric light aircraft program. Its board of directors was recently bolstered with the appointment of several senior executives from the aerospace and automotive sectors, including former Safran chairman Jean-Paul Herteman and former Renault executive committee member Jean-Christophe Kugler. Also on the board is Agnes Plagneux-Bertrand, who was head of the E-Fan program.

Ascendance Reveals New Design for Atea Hybrid-Electric VTOL Aircraft

Ascendance Flight Technologies has raised €10 million ($11.7 million) to support the development of its Atea hybrid-electric aircraft. In a funding round that closed last week, the French company was backed by investors including Habert Dassault Finance, Celeste Management, M Capital, Kima Ventures, and IRDI.
Announcing the funding, Toulouse-based Ascendance said it is on track to achieve type certification and service entry for the four-passenger model by 2025, albeit with further funding rounds needed to reach that point. The company said&nbsp;it aims to achieve a first flight with a prototype by 2024 in time for the Paris Olympic Games.
The Ascendance board of directors has been boosted with the appointment of several senior executives from the aerospace and automotive sectors including former Safran chairman Jean-Paul Herteman and former Renault executive committee member Jean-Christophe Kugler. Also on the board is Agnes Plagneux-Bertrand, who was head of Airbus’s E-Fan electric aircraft program, on which several of the start-up’s founders previously worked.
The new investment will support the recruitment of at least 15 more employees to boost Ascendance’s current team of 25. According to co-founder and CEO Jean-Christophe Lambert, the company is in talks with prospective partners and suppliers for the project. It already has support from Capgemini Engineering.
Work on the Atea is still in the design phase, with scaled prototypes being used to mature the planned architecture for the fixed-wing model. The latest funding round will support the construction of technology demonstrator units.
“This successful round of funding will allow us to focus on full-scale prototypes and patents in order to accelerate the development and industrialization of our technologies and products,” Lambert said. “We will also continue to recruit the best talents to shape a team that will impact tomorrow’s clean aviation.”
The Atea is to be powered by Ascendance’s proprietary Sterna hybrid-electric powertrain. The company says that Sterna’s modular design and “embedded intelligence” will allow it to support various different energy sources, including hydrogen. 
The piloted fixed-wing design features a pair of ducted fans for vertical lift in the inner-wing section and a single three-bladed propeller in the nose. It is expected to deliver a range of up to 250 miles and speeds of 124 mph. 
The Atea will use electrical power for takeoff and landing, with a turbine engine powering the cruise phase of flight when less power is needed. Lambert explained that this approach is mainly motivated by the desire to reduce noise and emissions, adding that the planned propulsion system could be switched to run on sustainable aviation fuel or hydrogen at a later date. 
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

Ascendance

News

Ascendance’s VTOL Aircraft Enters Final Integration Phase

Ascendance Launches Hybrid-Electric Aviation Partnership in Malaysia

Ascendance Steps Up Assembly of Atea Hybrid-electric VTOL Prototype

French Partners Plan Hybrid-electric Genav Aircraft

Charter Operator Signs for More Atea Hybrid Electric VTOL Aircraft

Ascendance's Hybrid Propulsion System To Power French Drones

Ascendance Plans to Fly Hybrid eVTOL Prototype This Year

Six Commercial Operators Commit To Adding Atea eVTOL Aircraft to Fleets

Ascendance Reveals New Design for Atea Hybrid-Electric VTOL Aircraft

Ascendance Raises Capital For Atea Hybrid Electric Aircraft

AIN Products

SUBSCRIPTIONS

RESOURCES

ABOUT AIN