Vertical Aerospace has bolstered its financial foundations with $50 million in additional funding to support its efforts to bring the VX4 eVTOL aircraft to market. On November 25, the UK start-up announced an agreement under which Mudrick Capital committed to providing the amount through a fresh equity round that will also involve converting around $130 million of debt into equity.

VoltAero is stepping into the North American market through a partnership with AltiSky, which will oversee assembly, sales, training, and maintenance for the French manufacturer’s Cassio family of hybrid-electric aircraft in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. 

During simulation exercises using helicopters in place of Eve Air Mobility’s eVTOL aircraft to trial air taxi services, one passenger tried to board with a gun and another was drunk. Speaking during an Investors Day event held in New York City last week by parent company Embraer, Eve CEO Johann Bordais said both passengers were turned away.

Future Flight Global, backed by seasoned business aviation entrepreneurs Karan Singh and Toni Drummond, has high hopes for monetizing operations with new eVTOL aircraft. After launching in May, the U.S.-based start-up wasted little time in laying down its marker by signing an agreement with Archer Aviation that could see it buy up to 116 of the four-passenger Midnight aircraft.

SkyDrive is ramping up efforts to introduce eVTOL air taxi services in South Carolina. The Japanese aircraft developer has teamed up with private charter operator SAI Flight and Greenville Downtown Airport to explore business opportunities and potential flight routes for the three-seat SkyDrive SD-05 eVTOL aircraft.

Heart Aerospace selected Plattsburgh International Airport in upstate New York as the site where it will start flight tests in second-quarter 2025 with a demonstrator version of its ES-30 hybrid-electric regional airliner. Announcing the decision on November 26, the Sweden-based start-up said these tests will validate its electric propulsion system, which is expected to support an all-electric range of almost 109 nm or twice that distance in hybrid mode.

MagniX has completed a joint test campaign with NASA for its Magni650 electric propulsion unit. The tests using NASA’s ground-based Electric Aircraft Testbed in Sandusky, Ohio, simulated flight conditions at 30,000 feet with a maximum continuous output of 700 kilowatts.

Electra Aero recently demonstrated its EL2 hybrid-electric demonstrator STOL aircraft as part of the Pentagon’s Thunderstorm 24-4 “expeditionary operations” technology showcase exercise. On November 26, the U.S. company confirmed its participation in the three-day event that was held near Fredricksburg, Virginia, earlier this month.

Operating from a field in rural England, UK start-up Skyfly this month posted video showing piloted flights in its Axe two-seat eVTOL aircraft. Company CEO Michael Thompson was at the controls for the hover and low-speed rotor-borne flights, and his team is now preparing to conduct wing-borne forward flight trials in January.