A three-minute sortie on June 21 as part of the Paris Air Forum marked the first public flight in France by Volocopter's eVTOL aircraft prototype. The German manufacturer is one of 30 companies and organizations working on a project to prepare for small-scale air taxi services to be launched in time for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Revealing its initial customers for the eFlyer 800, Bye Aerospace said Jet It and JetClub signed a purchase agreement including orders and options for the seven-passenger cabin-class aircraft, along with purchase deposits for four eFlyer 4 aircraft. As launch customers, Jet It founder and CEO Glenn Gonzales and JetClub founder and CEO Vishal Hiremath will join Bye Aerospace’s strategic advisory council for the eFlyer.

Some might say that established business and private aircraft operators are natural customers for new eVTOL aircraft and the air taxi services for which they are intended. Many of the eVTOL pioneers claim they will go it alone, retaining full control of operations and the advanced air mobility business model. But that stance could be softening as operational challenges and business realities bring the old and new schools closer together.

Archer says 20 or more recruits from supersonic aircraft developer Aerion will boost its capability in areas such as fly-by-wire controls, flight dynamics, systems engineering, system safety, avionics, power systems, and electromagnetic effects. The company unveiled its Maker technology demonstrator on June 10 and aims to start flight tests by the end of 2021.

MagniX says it is on track to complete FAA certification of its family of electric propulsion units under Part 33 rules. In addition to the existing 500-kW Magni500 EPU, which has already flown on electrified versions of the Cessna Grand Caravan and the DHC-2 Beaver, the company also now offers the Magni350 and Magni650 units.

Early commitments for NFT's Aska four-seat, self-drive eVTOL vehicle have mainly come from individuals who crave door-to-door transportation options that would allow them to live farther from large cities. Among the launch members of the company's "Founders Club" are a physician who sees the Aska as being valuable in providing rapid-response capability in medical trauma events and a Silicon Valley tech executive who wants more flexibility than he gets with his existing personal fleet of two private jets and a fighter aircraft.

Teams from Liebherr-Aerospace and U.S. carmaker GM will work together at the European aviation group's laboratory in Toulouse, France, to develop a hydrogen fuel cell technology demonstrator. The partners seek to support plans to convert commercial airliners to hydrogen propulsion, such as those being advanced by Airbus through its Zero E program.

Airspeeder is stepping up its plans to conduct races involving remotely piloted electric flying cars. The races, which will be held later this year at three international locations that the company says it will announce soon, will involve pilots selected from both aviation and motorsports.

Four teams, each with two remote pilots, will compete using the same all-electric Alauda Aeronautics Mk3 EXA “race-craft.” The races are intended to pave the way for further competition in 2022 with pilots on board the vehicles, which the manufacturer says have a greater thrust-to-weight ratio than an F-15 fighter jet.

According to Airspeeder, the pilots will remotely control the vehicles across “electrically governed, augmented reality enabled skytracks.” Audiences will be able to watch the races via a livestream.

Airspeeder has released video footage showing recent trial flights with the EXA vehicles conducted at a desert location in South Australia under the observation of the country’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority. The company is working with the regulator to develop safety protocols for the races.

PteroDynamics is a U.S. company developing what it says will be a family of long-range eVTOL aircraft called Parus Transwing.