Vertical Aerospace now says it needs at least 12 months more than anticipated to complete the type certification of the VX4 eVTOL aircraft and is pushing the target date back from 2025 to the end of 2026. In a letter to shareholders, the company indicated that the delay is mainly due to gaps in the regulatory process for type certification, but the balance sheet at the end of the first quarter showed cash reserves of just £104 million, with a £23 million operating loss for the first three months of 2023.

Electric air taxi developer Joby Aviation has received a $180 million investment from one of its long-term investors, Baillie Gifford. The British investment management firm, which is also a major backer of Tesla and Amazon, has agreed to purchase nearly 44 million newly issued shares of Joby’s common stock at a public offering price of $4.10 per share, Joby announced May 3 before releasing its first quarterly financial report of the year. 

Japan Airlines (JAL) has signed a memorandum of understanding with California-based eVTOL air taxi developer Wisk Aero to bring autonomous air taxi flights to Japan, the companies announced Tuesday. JAL is the first airline to partner with Wisk, which revealed its self-flying air taxi, called Gen 6, in October. As part of the agreement, Wisk will work closely with the airline’s maintenance subsidiary, JAL Engineering Co. (JALEC), to come up with plans for the operation and maintenance of Wisk’s autonomous air taxis in Japan. But JAL is not yet committing to purchasing any of Wisk’s aircraft. 

Cormorant Seaplanes is looking to refresh the fleet of amphibious aircraft by using wood as a key manufacturing material for its planned hybrid-electric design. The Dutch-Scottish start-up is fundraising to accelerate its plans, building on its role in the Sustainable Aviation Test Environment project, based in Scotland’s Orkney Islands.

Developers of eVTOL aircraft are often turning to automotive designers to get the best form and function for the exteriors and interiors of their groundbreaking vehicles. Supernal, which has received international recognition for the design of the cabin of its SA-1 eVTOL vehicle, got help from its parent company Hyundai, while rivals AutoFlight, Lilium, and Archer enlisted assistance from Frank Stephenson, who has left his mark on luxury auto brands like Ferrari, Maserati, McLaren, and BMW.

Autonomous flight pioneer Xwing has received a small business innovation research contract from the U.S. Air Force’s Afwerx Prime program to study potential defense applications for remotely piloted aircraft. As part of the agreement, the California-based company will collaborate with the USAF on a 21-month flight test campaign using its experimental self-flying Cessna 208B Grand Caravan. During these remotely operated flights, USAF officials will provide feedback on Xwing's "Superpilot" autonomous flight control system to help the company refine and optimize the technology for defense applications.

This week, Plana and Heart Aerospace secured new sales agreements for their aircraft, and Odys Aviation attracted a new investor for its blown-wing, hybrid-electric VTOL design. Inmarsat will supply satellite communications systems for drone operator Volatus Aerospace and eVTOL developer Supernal, which is also getting radar technology from Echodyne. Meanwhile, Lilium is back in the wind tunnel testing a new model of its eVTOL aircraft, and FutureFlight has news of insurance support for vertiports and a partnership between Israel Aerospace Industries and Transcend Air.

Compared with some of the more braggadocious eVTOL aircraft pioneers, Jaunt Air Mobility has done little by way of any public show-and-tell exercises to indicate how far it is progressing with the development of its Journey vehicle. This short video gives a glimpse of what is described as a technology demonstrator during flight testing.