Image: Vertical Aerospace
Farnborough International Airshow produced a run of firsts this year.
An electric aircraft flew publicly for the first time. A new all-electric cargo airline was unveiled. Government money arrived for the airport infrastructure needed to support both.
Zag Air was on the ground to cover the new records in advanced air mobility first hand.
The first public eVTOL transition flight
Bristol-based Vertical Aerospace became the first company to fly an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft publicly at Farnborough.
Its VX4 prototype completed a transition from vertical lift into wingborne flight before returning to a vertical landing.
“Advanced air mobility only succeeds if several things come together at the same time,” Chief Engineer David King told Zag Daily after the flight.
“You need certified aircraft, safety standards, production capability, public acceptance, supporting infrastructure and government backing; the more we show people that the technology is real and that it’s coming, the more momentum we create across the ecosystem.”
The display came weeks after Vertical confirmed that certification of its production aircraft, Valo, has slipped a year, from 2028 to 2029, as the company incorporates lessons from flight testing into the final design.
Two aircraft, one flying display
Vertical Aerospace was not flying alone. For the first time, Farnborough’s aerial display featured two advanced air mobility aircraft, with Vermont-based Beta Technologies operating its ALIA CX300 in daily flights alongside Vertical’s VX4.
Beta also had its MV250 on display, an uncrewed, hybrid-electric variant of ALIA built for military logistics, with General Electric Aerospace supplying the propulsion system and Lockheed Martin subsidiary Sikorsky providing the autonomy software.
Founder and Chief Executive Kyle Clark told reporters the defence work was not a distraction from civil certification but was speeding it up, citing more than 80,000 hours of flight time logged on the motor that also powers Beta’s passenger aircraft, a demonstration for the US Air Force that achieved full dispatch reliability and a single flight during a NATO exercise in Sweden that cost the company 330 dollars in fuel.
Europe’s first dedicated electric cargo airline
Many companies are seeking an earlier route to market through cargo and logistics.
Dutch logistics group e-Smart Avia used Farnborough to unveil ClearSky Airlines, which it says will become Europe’s first dedicated all-electric cargo carrier when it begins operations in 2027, flying Beta’s ALIA CX300 between regional airports for customers including pharmaceutical and express logistics firms.
Chief Executive Denis Ilin told Zag Daily the business had deliberately kept its ambitions narrow, adding electric propulsion to an established freight model without the added regulatory complexity of autonomy or vertical take-off.
Financing came from aircraft lessor SLI, which agreed to lease e-Smart up to 20 Beta aircraft days before the announcement.
“E-Smart’s launch of the first dedicated electric all-cargo airline is an important milestone for the industry and a step towards realising commercial cargo operations in zero direct emission aircraft,” Chief Executive Praveen Vetrivel told Zag Daily.
A show reshaped by demand, and by defence
The airshow recorded a first of its own. Organisers added a sixth exhibition hall after demand for space exceeded what was available and advanced air mobility companies occupied a larger footprint than in previous years. So did defence, whose presence at the show grew to rival the commercial side for the first time in its modern history.
