Flying taxis are a thing for sure , with many developments and start ups happening around the world , one more start up is making news recently aiming to keep the urban skyscapes busy in time to come.
Vertical Aerospace Group, based in Bristol, England, won conditional orders for as many as 1,000 electric aircraft or eVTOL (VA-X4) that could total $4bn from buyers including American Airlines Group Inc and Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd.
The VA-X4 is a four-passenger electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (eVTOL) intended for use as an air taxi with the ability to fly at least 100 miles before recharging at a speed of 202mph. It's designed with four tilting rotors at the front and has four more sequestered in the rear of the craft.
Vertical Aerospace's partnerships are a real push at the moment, with Rolls-Royce taking part in developing VA-X4’s powertrain and Honeywell supporting its flight control systems.
However eVTOL domain has many competitors already ! These collaborations seek to expedite the certification and deployment of aircraft in commercial operations.
Important contributions will be partnerships with American Airlines and Virgin Atlantic, with the former handling infrastructure development in North America and the latter looking at a joint venture in support of a Virgin Atlantic air taxi system.
Shai Weiss, CEO, Virgin Atlantic says,
“With innovation and sustainability leadership firmly in our DNA, we are excited to be partnering with Vertical Aerospace to pioneer sustainable and zero emissions air travel in the UK. We pride ourselves on building enduring strategic partnerships and are thrilled to be working alongside Vertical in its mission to bring eVTOL travel to the UK.
Our partnership includes an option for Virgin Atlantic to acquire up to 150 eVTOL VA-X4 aircraft and exploration of a Joint Venture to bring short haul, electric vehicle connectivity to cities and our UK airport hubs, starting with London Heathrow as well as Manchester and London Gatwick. Combining the design, engineering and manufacturing expertise of Vertical with the award-winning customer experience and operational excellence of Virgin Atlantic.”
“We believe that this is the beginning of the next big evolution of urban air mobility,” said Domhnal Slattery, chief executive officer of aircraft lessor Avolon Holdings Ltd, which is investing $15mn in Vertical Aerospace. “This is probably as significant as the jet age.”
Vertical Aerospace is going public through a reverse merger with Broadstone Acquisition Corp in a SPAC deal that values the combined companies’ equity at about $2.2bn.
Commercial operations of the VA-X4 are planned for 2024 following European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) certification.
Pictures :Vertical Aerospace
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