Vertical Aerospace has announced that it has secured a pre- delivery payment commitment from American Airlines for 50 slots for Vertical’s VX4 eVTOLs the 50 slots are a firming of the conditional order for up to 250 VX4s with options of a further 100 agreed to in June of last year. Commenting on the announcement American’s Chief Financial Officer Derek Kerr said “Our partnership with Vertical is a great example of progress in our commitment to reducing carbon emissions throughout our airline and the industry. We have made great strides in simplifying our fleet with newer and more fuel-efficient aircraft, and are proud to take part in another step toward the development of advanced air mobility.”
Although flight test programme is due to get underway in the coming weeks the company says it has secured agreement for concurrent certification of the piloted four seat VX4 by the UK CAA and EASA.
Meanwhile Vertical says that to date it has “pre-orders” for more than 1,400 of its VX4 aircraft, from customers including besides American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Avolon, Bristow, Marubeni, Iberojet and FLYINGGROUP, as well as Japan Airlines (JAL), Gol, Air Greenland, Gozen Holding and AirAsia.
