American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, and leasing group Avolon yesterday committed to buying up to 1,000 of Vertical Aerospace’s VA-X4 eVTOLs. The deals are potentially worth up to $4 billion for the UK-based manufacturer and represent the largest sales agreements placed so far in the emerging advanced air mobility sector.
At the same time, Vertical announced plans for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange through a merger with special purpose acquisition company Broadstone Acquisition Corp. The transaction, which the parties expect to close by year-end, could value the company at between $1.8 billion and $2.2 billion based on a $10 share price for the public investment in private equity (PIPE).
American and Avolon, along with Honeywell and Rolls-Royce, are also participating in the PIPE, joining existing strategic Vertical backers including Microsoft’s M12 investment arm, 40 North, and Rocket Internet SE.
American said it will invest $25 million, but the other new backers have not disclosed how much capital they will provide. Honeywell and Rolls-Royce already serve as partners in the program, supporting plans to complete EASA type certification of the four-passenger, all-electric VA-X4 aircraft in 2024.
Under the terms of the pre-orders placed yesterday, American has provisionally agreed to take 250 aircraft, with options for 100 more. Avolon has committed to 310 and options for a further 190. American intends to work with Vertical to develop passenger operations and infrastructure in the U.S. market.
I have spent most of my near-30-year tenure as an FAA aviation medical examiner (AME) trying to get pilots to give me a heads up regarding either new medical conditions diagnosed or medications prescribed in the interim between exams.
Not giving the AME time to plan strategy can lead to unpleasant surprises at the next FAA exam, when the AME is put in the unenviable position of informing a pilot that his medical certificate cannot be issued. And, to rub the proverbial salt in the wound, I tell the pilot that, given some advance notice, I could have developed a strategy that would have permitted issuance of the medical certificate at the time of the exam or streamlined things to perhaps minimize any grounding period.
I don’t do this to scold the pilot, but just to make the point that, in the future, we can potentially work together as a team in a more timely and productive manner should new medical conditions arise.
While much of the time I do get blindsided at the pilot's next exam appointment with information that I wish I had known weeks or months earlier, to be fair I do have many pilots who indeed trust me enough to notify me in a timely manner of new medical problems or prescribed medications. Doing so often saves them several unexpected months of being grounded.
Embraer Confirms Talks To Merge Eve eVTOL Unit with Zanite
Embraer’s Eve Urban Air Mobility Solutions subsidiary is negotiating a possible merger with Zanite Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company that started trading on the Nasdaq market in November, raising an initial $230 million. Late last night, in a statement from Antonio Carlos Garcia, the Brazilian aerospace group’s executive v-p of finance and investor relations, Embraer responded to a Bloomberg report earlier in the day that Eve and Zanite are preparing to announce a $2 billion merger.
“The negotiations with Zanite are ongoing,” Garcia said in the statement. “The company cannot predict if Eve will reach a definitive agreement or what will be the terms thereof. The company will keep the market informed of subsequent material developments in the context of such negotiations, to the extent imposed by the applicable laws and stock exchange regulations.”
U.S.-based Zanite was launched by business aviation entrepreneur Kenn Ricci, who is principal of Directional Aviation Capital, and Steve Rosen, who is co-CEO with Ricci of Resilience Capital Partners. Directional Aviation includes private aviation service providers OneSky Flight, Flexjet, Sentient Jet, PrivateFly, and FxAir.
On June 1, OneSky Flight announced plans to buy 200 four-passenger Eve eVTOLs from 2026. Its plan is to operate these in the UK and U.S. markets through its helicopter operating subsidiaries Halo Aviation and Associated Aircraft Group.
Infrastructure is dominating focus on Capitol Hill but it may take until the end of the year before a bill is ultimately passed, a Washington insider said on Wednesday at the NBAA virtual Aviation Tax & Regulatory Compliance Seminar.
Helping to kick off the two-day event, Dave Olander, who leads the tax practice for Capitol Counsel and formerly served as tax counsel for the House Ways and Means Committee, said “Infrastructure is where it is at. It is the issue.” However, he said recent negotiations haven’t shown promise that a bipartisan agreement can be reached in the near term.
“It feels like we are headed toward a Q4 exercise where at the end of the year there is going to be a reckoning,” to get the bill completed, he said. Democrats will either have to compromise or “go at it alone” using procedural maneuvers such as reconciliation.
Meanwhile, Scott O’Brien, senior director of government affairs for NBAA, outlined the association’s legislative initiatives, including encouraging the incorporation of a SAF blenders tax credit of up to $2 per gallon for 10 years. “[We] believe that will be a game-changer.” Aviation groups are hoping to see this included in a tax portion of the infrastructure proposal, O’Brien said.
Olander was optimistic, saying, “It is very much part of the discussion right now."
JetClub, the Europe-based sister company to North Carolina-based fractional operator Jet It, has received its air operator certificate (AOC) from the Transport Malta Civil Aviation Directorate. This enables the company to begin operating fractional and charter passenger flights with its HondaJet-centric fleet in the Old Continent.
“Over the past 12 months, we have been building processes that satisfy stringent safety standards of a commercial AOC holder,” said JetClub CEO and founder Vishal Hiremath. “Receiving an AOC is a testament that we as an operator have met and exceeded the high operating standards of the Maltese and EU authorities.”
Besides Europe, JetClub plans to serve fractional owners in Asia, South Asia, and South America. The company was formally launched in March. Like Jet It, it offers a fractional model in which owners purchase a share of a HondaJet in exchange for using the aircraft for a certain number of days, not hours.
Aviation Groups Protest FAA Flight Training Stance
Ten aviation organizations are urging the FAA to revisit its perspective on a decision against Warbird Adventures, saying the agency’s standpoint has “serious and negative implications” on the broader flight-training community.
In a June 8 joint letter to FAA Administrator Steve Dickson, the organizations objected to guidelines laid out in a June 4 agency letter that stated a flight instructor operating a limited category aircraft and carrying a paying student is acting contrary to federal regulation, even if that compensation is for the instruction and not carriage, the groups noted. In addition, the June 4 FAA letter added that these prohibitions could extend to an instructor providing flight training in an experimental or primary category aircraft. The associations said they expect a more formal policy statement to follow this guidance.
In response, the organizations told the agency these views “reflect unnecessary and unwarranted guidelines based upon irrational legal positions” and cautioned that if the FAA were to implement the proposed policies “they will likely invite unnecessary legal battles while degrading safety."
Due to the “enormous confusion” created by the agency guidance, the organizations are urging the agency to issue a statement that it would not take legal enforcement action until a resolution has been reached.
Part 135 operator GrandView Aviation will be Embraer’s launch customer for a convertible medevac interior STC that the Brazilian airframer developed for its Phenom 300 light twinjet. “With the Phenom 300MED conversion, our aircraft can transition from a passenger cabin interior to medevac in a matter of hours, allowing for maximum operational efficiency,” said GrandView COO Jessie Naor. “We already operate diverse missions, and the Phenom 300MED further adds to our ability to meet a wide variety of client needs.”
Aerolite will provide the equipment for the Phenom 300MED’s medevac interior. The installation will be performed at Embraer’s service center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “We are sure this will be the first of many conversions around the world,” said Marsha Woelber, Embraer Service & Support’s head of worldwide executive jets customer support and aftermarket sales.
Baltimore-based GrandView owns 10 Phenom 300s as well as Sikorsky S-76D and Bell 407GXi helicopters.
In a ceremony yesterday at its U.S. headquarters in Philadelphia, Leonardo Helicopters delivered to the U.S. Navy the first TH-73A training helicopter. The model is intended to replace the Bell TH-57 Sea Ranger, which has been in service for more than half a century.
Leonardo was awarded the contract for an initial 32 of the light single-engine helicopters, a version of its civil AW119, in January 2020. The company has firm orders to deliver 68 TH-73As, with a total requirement of 130 through 2024. Fourteen airframes are currently under assembly at its facility at Northeast Philadelphia Airport.
Before an audience of elected officials, military personnel, Leonardo executives, and employees, vice-admiral Kenneth Whitesell, chief of Naval Air Forces, accepted the first of the type on behalf of the military. “This aircraft is going to be the centerpiece for our advanced helicopter training system,” he noted, describing the TH-73A as “providing the most capable and advanced training platform to prepare student aviators to combat and defeat our adversaries.”
In describing the company's culture, Clyde Woltman, president of Leonardo's U.S. division, noted, “Without leadership who have consistently listened to and supported us every step of the way, this milestone first delivery—18 months after contract award during a global pandemic and with a 90-day protest-driven stop-work order—could not have happened.”
Last Chance: AIN Product Support Survey
Tell us about the product support you receive from business aviation OEMs. The 2021 AIN Product Support Survey is now open, ready for selected readers to rate aircraft, engine, and avionics support. AIN readers who have been picked to participate in this year’s Product Support Survey should have received their password and link to the online survey by e-mail. The survey closes at midnight today, June 11.
Photo of the Week
ETOPS (engine turns or pilot swims). Adrian Eichhorn took this “selfie” near Narsarsuaq, Greenland, during his successful nonstop flight in a Beechcraft Bonanza over the geographic North Pole on May 11. Flying from Reykjavik, Iceland, to Fairbanks, Alaska, the 3,239-nm (including circling the geographic North Pole) over-the-pole leg took 19 hours and 23 minutes. Thanks to Dale Smith and Superior Air Parts, one of the flight’s numerous sponsors, for sharing this photo. And congrats to Adrian, too!
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