Electra Aero has agreed to terms under which charter flight group Bristow secured the first delivery slot for its EL9 ultra short hybrid-electric aircraft. Under the deal announced on January 21, the helicopter group has made a pre-delivery payment deposit covering five EL9s, firming up an earlier letter of intent with options for another 45 of the nine-seaters on the same terms.

GE Aerospace has conducted its first ground test of a commercial hybrid-electric engine demonstrator as part of its work to develop new reduced-emissions powertrains for future narrowbody airliners. On January 26, the company announced that the NASA-backed work had successfully demonstrated power transfer, extraction, and injection in a high-bypass turbofan.

Swiss weather intelligence firm Meteomatics and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are teaming up to improve weather forecasts with the use of small “Meteodrones.” According to Meteomatics, this partnership will enable the first operational uses of routine drone-based weather observations at the National Weather Service. 

Volocopter says it remains on track to receive regulatory approval of its VoloXPro eVTOL later this year under EASA's Light Sport Aircraft category. The German company is seeking to bring the “slimmed-down” version of its eVTOL design to market as it endeavors to achieve full type certification of the two-seat VoloCity aircraft. 

Horizon Aircraft has announced a series of design changes to its Cavorite X7 hybrid-electric VTOL aircraft as it starts manufacturing of the first full-scale prototype, which it aims to start flight testing next year. The Canadian company released the program update on January 21, a week after reporting that it had increased liquidity to more than C$24 million to support work in 2026.

AeroGulf Services signaled its intention to purchase up to 20 SkyDrive SD-05 eVTOLs. The agreement announced by the Japanese manufacturer on January 14 with the Dubai-based operator calls for the first 10 deliveries to be made in 2028 with 10 more to follow in 2029.