Airbus is Continuing its eVTOL Prototype’s Flight Tests Despite Program Pause, Per AIN
Airbus will complete the flight test campaign for its CityAirbus NextGen eVTOL throughout the remainder of 2025.
(Germany) AIN reported today that despite Airbus’s (EPA: AIR) January announcement that it will not proceed with a commercial launch of its four-seat CityAirbus NextGen electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) prototype, the company is continuing weekly flight tests with its prototype.
Photo of Airbus's CityAirbus NextGen electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) prototype, which continues to participate in test flights despite its program cancellation this past January, courtesy of Airbus.
Photo of Airbus's CityAirbus NextGen electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) prototype, which continues to participate in test flights despite its program cancellation this past January, courtesy of Airbus.
Per AIIN, the aircraft has been moved from Airbus Helicopters’ Donauwörth facility in Germany; although the European aerospace group has declined to reveal the location of flight testing that will be completed this year, it is likely now based at the nearby Airbus Defense and Space facility in Manching.
Airbus Helicopters CEO Bruno Even told reporters in early March that the company still holds a long-term belief in the viability of eVTOL aircraft, but concluded that available battery technology would not support the required range and payload performance by the aircraft’s initial commercial target of 2026, but rather would need to be introduced in the 2030s. Airbus has also expressed concern that the regulatory landscape for early market entry of viable eVTOL aircraft is not as far along as it needs to be, per AIN.
When the eCityAirbus NextGen project was initiated four years ago, the target had been for the vehicle, which would offer a range of up to 80 km (43 nm), to fly a prototype in 2024 and be ready for a commercial launch in 2026.
Regardless, per AIN, Airbus expects to learn a good deal as it completes the flight test for CityAirbus NextGen throughout the remainder of 2025.
“We are doing the flight test program we usually do on all our flying objects,” confirmed Stefan Thomé, executive vice president of Airbus Helicopters, per AIN, who said that the remaining flights will focus on test points for stability, controllability, maneuverability, flight control systems, energy management, and performance.
