Freebird Airlines owner orders up to 100 VX4 eVTOL aircraft from Avolon

The international aircraft leasing company Avolon has confirmed that Freebird Airlines owner and Turkish aviation conglomerate Gözen Holding has committed to purchase or lease up to 50 VX4 eVTOL aircraft from Avolon, with the option to purchase or lease up to 50 additional aircraft. 

 Avolon and Gözen Holding will collaborate in a Working Group to identify and target local partners, research potential market opportunities, as well as infrastructure and certification requirements for UAM. The partnership will allow Avolon to leverage Gözen Holding’s expertise in airline operations, pilot training, airport handling and security, airline representation as well as digital platforms, while Gözen Holding will benefit from Avolon’s deep industry expertise and global platform of UAM Working Groups, which are active in Brazil (with GOL), Greenland (with Air Greenland), Japan (with Japan Airlines) and Southeast Asia (with AirAsia).

Dómhnal Slattery, CEO of Avolon commented: “Today marks an important milestone on our eVTOL journey, as we have now fully placed our VX4 order book with some of the leading international airlines and aviation companies all over the world. The opportunities to deploy the VX4 are enormous and, as is evident with our placement progress to date, zero-emissions eVTOL air travel will reshape the short-haul travel market. Our partnership with Gözen Holding will create a pioneer in UAM in Turkey, bringing sustainable air travel to the region."

Mekin Gözen, CEO of Gözen Holding, commented: “We are delighted to announce our partnership and VX4 order with Avolon. As an integral part of the Turkish aviation industry, we feel it is incumbent upon us to be at the forefront of the sustainability movement and that is why we identified Avolon, and Vertical’s VX4, as the zero-emissions eVTOL aircraft that will revolutionise air travel. With over 15 million people living in Istanbul, the city is consistently faced with congestion which hinders both the cities’ development and attractiveness as a tourist and business location. We strongly believe that the deployment of the VX4 will dramatically reshape Istanbul and the rest of Turkey. Our partnership with Avolon will see us create an eVTOL ecosystem in the country and is the first step in delivering sustainable air travel to the region, position it as a global leader.”

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Founder and CEO of Vertical commented: “We are delighted that Turkey has been added to the global destinations where the VX4 will fly. We look forward to welcoming Gözen into the Vertical family and continue to celebrate our growing partnership with Avolon."

Follow this site here.

Air Greenland commits to purchasing or leasing from Avolon a fleet of Vertical Aerospace VX4 eVTOL aircraft

Avolon, the international aircraft leasing company, announces that it has partnered with Air Greenland, the flag-carrier for Greenland, to bring zero-emissions travel to the region and help tackle the issue of climate change.

Avolon and Air Greenland will partner to form a Working Group to assess the opportunity to commercialise zero-emissions air travel in the region. The Working Group will also collaborate to identify local infrastructure and certification requirements for eVTOL aircraft. As part of the agreement, Air Greenland will commit to purchasing or leasing a fleet of VX4 eVTOL aircraft, manufactured by Vertical Aerospace, from Avolon. Upon its introduction, the VX4 will be the most advanced and the safest eVTOL in the market and will be built to EASA safety certification standards – the most stringent global requirements and at the same level as commercial aircraft. The VX4 will be near silent when in flight and will have zero operating emissions, transporting four passengers and one pilot distances of over 100 miles at up to 200 miles per hour. The size of Air Greenland’s VX4 fleet will be defined at the conclusion of the Working Group’s assessment of the scale of the market opportunity.

Dómhnal Slattery, CEO of Avolon commented: “Since our initial order, we have seen airlines all over the world make a commitment to the zero emissions travel by selecting the VX4 aircraft as the first step in their decarbonisation journey. Today’s announcement with Air Greenland means we are taking zero-emissions travel to where climate change is having its most pronounced impact. We look forward to working with Air Greenland to bringing the zero-operating emission VX4 aircraft to where it matters the most.”

Jacob Nitter Sørensen, CEO of Air Greenland, commented: “Today’s announcement marks the start of our long-term sustainability journey, and we are excited about bringing zero emissions travel to our region. In Greenland, we see the effects of climate change every day and, as a company, we want to be at the forefront of the climate revolution. The VX4 aircraft will have many uses for Air Greenland and, through our partnership with Avolon, we look forward to welcoming our first travellers onboard in the near future – flying our guests to Ilimanaq Lodge to show the visible impacts that climate change is having on our country and planet.”

Stephen Fitzpatrick, CEO of Vertical Aerospace, commented: “We are delighted that Air Greenland has chosen the VX4 to bring zero emissions air travel to the region. This partnership is a significant first step in introducing sustainable air mobility to Greenland.”

Follow this site here.

Joby Becomes First eVTOL Company to Submit Area-Specific Certification Plan

Joby Aviation, a California-based company developing an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for commercial passenger service, today announced it has submitted its first area-specific certification plan to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), believed to be an industry first.

The plan, which is the first of several that Joby will be required to submit, brings the company one step closer to receiving type certification for its aircraft, laying out the combination of design reports, analysis and testing that it will employ to demonstrate compliance with rigorous FAA safety standards for one functional area of the aircraft.

“Today’s milestone is the result of many years of hard work by both the Joby team and the FAA,” said Didier Papadopoulos, Head of Programs and Systems at Joby. “It’s also another indication of the great momentum we have on the certification front. With more than two thirds of our means of compliance now agreed with the FAA, we’re looking forward to maintaining that momentum with the submission of further certification plans in the near future.”

The certification plan submitted earlier this week is focused on cabin safety, comprising the integrity of materials, seats, and occupant restraints used in the interior of the aircraft.

In February, Joby announced it had completed its first series of FAA conformity tests to confirm the material strength of the composite material comprising the aerostructure of the aircraft. In 2020, Joby became the first and only electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) company to sign a G-1 (stage 4) certification basis with the FAA, having received an initial (stage 2) signed G-1 from the FAA in 2019.

Joby’s piloted five-seat eVTOL aircraft can carry four passengers at speeds of up to 200 mph, with a maximum range of 150 miles on a single charge. With more than 10 years of development and over a thousand flight tests completed, Joby is targeting the launch of its aerial ridesharing service in 2024.

Follow this site here.

Archer Takes to the Skies with First Hover Flight of Maker Aircraft

Six months after unveiling its Maker eVTOL aircraft, Archer has achieved both FAA airworthiness certification and its first successful hover flight

The successful hover flight saw Maker accelerating off the ground and hovering in place before returning to the ground safely

Maker aircraft is an autonomous two-seater eVTOL aircraft that has been certified for flight testing by the FAA

In the coming months, Archer’s flight test campaign will broaden to include hover envelope expansion, followed by transition envelope expansion

 

Archer Aviation Inc. announced that Maker, Archer’s eVTOL demonstrator aircraft, completed its first successful hover flight. The flight marks the completion of the company’s first full and complete systems test and validation of every hardware and software component working as intended to move the aircraft into the air. The flight test was completed at 10:30 am PT on 16 December and also resulted in the successful checkout of the company’s flight control system in flight and the end-to-end close of flight software. Now that flight has been achieved, Archer will move forward with an ongoing extensive flight test campaign into 2022 and beyond.

In November, Archer’s dedicated flight test team, consisting of experts in flight test, battery, propulsion, flight controls, software and avionics, moved from the company’s headquarters in Palo Alto to a new flight test facility to prepare for this important milestone. Over the past two months, the team has been laser-focused on Maker’s integration and ground testing in order to prepare Maker for a successful first hover flight, as well as ensuring it meets the FAA's standards for airworthiness certification. After being fully integrated, Maker moved into its ground testing phase, which included verification of the control and propulsion systems, along with driving the motors at full power, and then putting those motors through stress testing to ensure all systems were operational and ready to withstand flight testing. After completing an untethered test, during which the Archer team verified that the entire propulsion and flight control system was functioning correctly, Archer’s flight test team approved the aircraft for its first flight.

The moment was particularly significant in aviation history as this week marks the 118th anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ first flight at Kitty Hawk, NC in 1903 - the moment where humanity officially took to the skies for the very first time. Eric Wright, a descendant of Orville and Wilbur, and Archer’s own head of certification, placed a historic piece of the Wright Flyer in Maker for its inaugural flight to mark the full circle moment.