Vertical Aerospace and its leasing partner Avolon have announced that they have exceeded their whole 500 unit pre-order of Vertical’s VX4 electric aircraft within nine months.
Vertical Aerospace is a UK-based designer and maker of electrical vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. The VX4 is a four-passenger, one pilot eVTOL projected to fly at speeds of up to 200mph over a range of over 100 miles in near-silence. Based in Ireland, Avolon is the world’s second-largest aircraft leaser. Avolon, which pre-ordered 500 VX4s in June 2021, has placed all of these units, as well as an additional 50 aircraft options, with leading global airlines.
The oversubscription of the Vertical Aerospace order book by Avolon has been achieved by placing aircraft with flag carriers and airlines such as JAL, AirAsia and Brazil’s largest airline Gol, in addition to the recent announcement with Turkish aviation group, Gözen Holding, for up to 100 VX4 eVTOL aircraft.
The global reach achieved through Vertical’s conditional pre-orders for its VX4 means it has the largest pre-order book by value in the eVTOL market for $5.4bn, and together with Avolon’s placements means that the VX4 will fly in the US, UK, Japan, Brazil, Turkey, Greenland, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean.
Vertical expects its electric aircraft to be flying in cities worldwide by the middle of the decade. Together with its partners including Rolls-Royce, Honeywell and Microsoft, along with GKN, Leonardo and Solvay, Vertical is now in the later build stages of the VX4 with its full test flight program to commence later in 2022. In addition, Vertical and Avolon are collaborating with the VX4’s airline customers in Working Groups to accelerate the deployment of the VX4, as well as on eVTOL infrastructure and regional-specific certification requirements.
Dómhnal Slattery, CEO of Avolon commented: “Today marks an important milestone on our eVTOL journey, as we have now fully placed our VX4 order book with some of the leading international airlines and aviation companies all over the world. The opportunities to deploy the VX4 are enormous and, as is evident with our placement progress to date, zero-emissions eVTOL air travel will reshape the short-haul travel market. Our partnership with Gözen Holding will create a pioneer in UAM in Turkey, bringing sustainable air travel to the region.
“The strong demand for our VX4 order book and for zero-emissions travel, confirms our view that demand for eVTOL aircraft would always outstrip supply. As a result, we will continue working with other partners that want to purchase or lease the VX4 in order to fully size the potential market and demand for this aircraft”.
You can find more information about Vertical Aerospace and the filling of its order book on its website.
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