With the FAA now deep in its review of public comments on the agency’s long-anticipated proposal to allow routine beyond-visual-line-of-sight operations in U.S. airspace, 2026 is poised to be a pivotal year for the drone industry and the aviation sector at large. Designed to enable scaled drone operations, the new rulemaking could be finalized by the end of the first quarter. 

Eve Air Mobility has flown a full-scale engineering prototype of its four-passenger eVTOL aircraft. The uncrewed hover flight happened on December 19 at the Brazilian company’s test facility at Gavião Peixoto in São Paulo state.

Evio, a Canadian start-up producing a 76-seat hybrid-electric airplane with help from Boeing and Pratt & Whitney, is positioning what it calls a “strong hybrid” propulsion architecture as the key to restoring profitability on short-haul regional routes where airline services have been dwindling for decades. Speaking with AIN, Evio co-founder, chairman, and CEO Michael Derman said the Evio 810 clean-sheet aircraft program is heavily focused on operator economics.

Leonardo Helicopters recently made the first flight of its Next Generation Civil Tiltrotor demonstrator aircraft from its Costa di Samarate facility in Italy. Part of an EU-funded initiative, NGCTR was first launched in 2015 under the European Union’s Clean Aviation Clean Sky 2 program, which described the project’s aims to “design, install and demonstrate, in flight, innovative civil tiltrotor technologies enabling future prototype development.” 

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s release of an advanced air mobility roadmap for the next decade has drawn accolades from across the nation’s aviation industry, including several leading developers of electric and autonomous aircraft. The document was drafted by the federal government’s AAM Interagency Working Group and published online on December 17—the 122nd anniversary of the Wright brothers’ first flight. 

The European Union-backed Clean Aviation project has announced its fourth call for proposals, with an initial draft published on December 9 set to be followed by formal proposals that will be issued on Feb. 13, 2026. The upcoming call will provide up to €329.5 million ($386 million) in funding for disruptive new aircraft technologies, providing an estimated €824 million when combined with input from the private sector.

Joby Aviation wrapped up a busy year of eVTOL flight tests and demonstrations while setting ambitious plans for the year ahead. The California-based company recently announced that it will double its manufacturing capacity, targeting a production rate of four aircraft per month by 2027. 

Vertical Aerospace has completed the construction of what it describes as its “third and final full-scale prototype aircraft,” which will double its flight test capacity from early 2026. The readiness of the additional example of its VX4 eVTOL aircraft was announced on December 22, as the UK company seeks to maintain momentum as it targets a full piloted transition (moving from the hover to forward wingborne flight) early in the year.