Belgian-American start-up Cosmic Aerospace has raised $4.5 million in a seed funding round for the development of an all-electric regional airplane that it says will deliver a range of more than 600 miles on a single charge. It claims the 24-passenger Cosmic Skylark will be the world's most energy-efficient aircraft with its wing-embedded propulsion system and ultra-lightweight, aerodynamic airframe.

Australian air transport group Aviation Logistics has agreed to buy 10 of AMSL Aero’s Vertiia hydrogen fuel cell-powered eVTOL aircraft with an option for 10 more, the companies to announced on February 5. The deposit-backed order represents the first for the Sydney-based manufacturer, which has been collaborating with local aeromedical group CareFlight to develop rural and regional healthcare applications for eVTOL aircraft such as the Vertiia.

At around $334,000, EHang’s EH216-S two-seat autonomous eVTOL aircraft costs a fraction of the price of Western-made equipment.  The Chinese manufacturer  announced the suggested retail price, which will be effective from April 1.

Archer Aviation has completed the first of three phases in the flight test campaign for its Midnight eVTOL air taxi. Over the past three months, the California-based eVTOL developer has been executing a series of increasingly complex maneuvers with the remotely piloted prototype to evaluate its roll, pitch, and yaw handling qualities during hover. Now it is advancing to the second phase of flight testing, which involves incremental speed testing that will culminate in Midnight's first transition to fully wingborne cruise flight.

The U.S. Air Force has awarded military airworthiness approval for Reliable Robotics’ remotely piloted Cessna 208 Caravan, a single-engine turboprop that the California-based company has retrofitted with an autonomous flight control system. This approval grants Reliable Robotics permission to begin flight testing the experimental aircraft in collaboration with the USAF, which is interested in utilizing the company’s aircraft-agnostic autonomy kit on large aircraft such as the KC-135 Stratotanker. 

Danish early-stage investor Sagitta Ventures has joined existing investors in Heart Aerospace to fund a Series B round that raised a further $107 million. This took total funding to $145 million and will provide cash to support work on the 30-seat ES-30 hybrid-electric regional airliner that Heart aims to bring to market before the end of this decade.

UK regional airline Loganair is stepping up its collaboration with Cranfield Aerospace Solutions to start operating Britten-Norman Islander aircraft using new hydrogen fuel cell technology to deliver zero-emissions propulsion. The goal is to start the first commercial flights from the Orkney Islands off the coast of Scotland in 2027.

Pivotal has released a video showing what happened in June 2023 when it delivered the first example of its Helix single-seat personal eVTOL vehicle to Tim Lum, a prospective owner/pilot participating in the company's early-access program. The start-up formerly known as Opener Aero has renamed the aircraft, which used to be referred to as the BlackFly. The video shows the whole process from delivery through transit, assembly, flight planning, and the first flight with Tim at the controls.