FutureFlight
VRCO Seeks Space, Partnership, and Funding for XP4 Personal eVTOL Aircraft Development
The UK-based start-up plans a Series A funding round and is preparing to move into a new headquarters and accelerate development work with Spain-based engineering partner CITD.
VRCO's four-seater XP4 personal eVTOL aircraft could operate from yachts.
VRCO sees its XP4 four-seater personal eVTOL aircraft being popular with affluent private pilots. (Image: VRCO)

VRCO expects to be more visible in 2023 as it steps up efforts to bring its Xcraft XP4 four-seat eVTOL aircraft to market. Having outgrown its facilities at Derby in the north of England, the company is preparing to move to a headquarters in the vicinity of London Heathrow Airport to create more space for development work and to start flight testing a prototype by early 2024.

Another key aspect of VRCO’s revised business plan is that it has signed up the Spanish engineering services group CITD to provide support for design work and eventually the type certification process. The provisional program timeline now projects airworthiness approval being achieved by early 2026, with progress toward an earlier 2024 target having slowed during the Covid pandemic.