Bye Aerospace claims it already has customer commitments for the eFlyer 800, which will carry seven passengers and one or two pilots on flights of up to around 575 miles. The model will be powered by motors from Safran and new lithium-sulfur batteries from Oxis Energy.

Universal Hydrogen announced the close of its Series A funding round on Earth Day, with a claim that its hydrogen propulsion system gives air transport the best shot at meeting its commitments under the Paris Agreement on climate change. New and existing backers of the technology contributed to the round.

Jetoptera is exploring options to apply its patented Fluidic Propulsion Technology, which could help eVTOL and eSTOL aircraft developers overcome the limitations of current battery technology, while also harnessing what the company claims is an exceptionally low noise signature well suited to operations in urban environments. At the same time, it is working on plans for its own 4,000-pound full-scale prototype aircraft ready to start flight testing in 2024 or 2025.

The Vertex project run by Airbus UpNext is intended to develop and demonstrate enabling technologies that could greatly simplify mission preparation and management tasks to the point where the pilot simply confirms the destination before monitoring the flight while conducting other tasks. Airbus expects the autonomous technology to feature in its planned eVTOL aircraft but says that it could be another decade before urban air mobility flights might be conducted without a pilot on board.

Leonardo's Swiss-based Kopter subsidiary has been designated as the group's center of excellence for new rotorcraft technology. The prototypes for its new AW09 single-engine helicopter will likely be used as the basis for a technology demonstrator for the proposed hybrid-electric design.

During a recent virtual demonstration, Honeywell showed how distributed processing technology and advanced fly-by-wire algorithms are supporting plans for simplified vehicle operations with new eVTOL aircraft. The company also displayed its latest digitally active phased array radar and hydrogen fuel cells for propulsion systems.

Skyports is working to secure sites on which vertiports can be built and operated to support eVTOL air taxi services. It is already involved in prospective projects in Paris, London, and Singapore and is now turning its attention to Japan. The UK-based group also operates drone delivery services and is looking to expand its network.

The Covid pandemic interrupted­–and continues to interrupt–many aspects of the aviation sector, and yet for many of the ambitious start-ups in the world of advanced air mobility not dependent on immediate revenue flows, the past 13 months or so have been a time when they have focused relentlessly on advancing their plans for new eVTOL aircraft. No less relentless has been the publicity machine around many of these companies, providing a constant attention-seeking drumbeat intended to draw investors to the parade.

However, one company, formerly perceived as an eVTOL front runner, has gone radio silent. Throughout 2018 and 2019, Opener and its BlackFly personal air vehicle were drawing–and presumably seeking–media attention from around the world. But it is now more than a year since the company made any sort of public statement on the program, when a Tweet declared that it was busy “improving manufacturing processes, enhancing efficiency for future demand, refining vehicle design to be robust, and making advancements to our motors/motor controllers.”

It is now just over two years since Opener confirmed it had begun pre-production manufacturing of the BlackFly prototype in March 2019, and that was almost 10 years since the concept was first conceived by company founder Marcus Leng. During the 2019 EAA AirVenture air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the company reported that various earlier BlackFly demonstrators had made more than 2,300 flights, and the company website now raised this number to 3,200 flights and 31,000 miles.

That tweet, which signed off with the promise, “Once we’re done, we’re hitting the road,” featured a compelling video first released in December 2019, showing the BlackFly prototype being tested in wintery conditions. It still catches the eye, if only in the context of the discussion as to whether eVTOL aircraft will be viable in icy conditions. The video was shot in 360-degree format, allowing the viewer to scroll around for a complete view of the BlackFly's exceptional configuration, and hear the sound of its electric-powered rotors.

The Butterly is an all-electric eVTOL aircraft intended to carry four passengers with a pilot. The project was begun by experienced aerospace group Karem Aircraft, which in January 2020 established Overair, Inc. as a subsidiary to run the program.