The next chapter of flight
Aircraft. Companies. The path to flight.
Explore the evidence behind advanced air mobility, from emerging designs to operating approvals.
Source-linked research
Santa Cruz, California · United States
Develops an electric air taxi and a service network connecting cities and airports. Aircraft development, manufacturing and planned operations sit within one business.
Founded 2009 · Independent company
Burlington, Vermont · United States
Develops conventional and vertical takeoff ALIA aircraft, electric propulsion and an aviation charging network.
Founded 2017 · Independent company
Bruchsal · Germany
VoloCity developer reorganised into Diamond Aircraft Group in 2025. The profile retains programme history without treating the former financing or targets as current achievements.
Founded 2011 · Subsidiary
Demonstration flights. Manufacturer also reports ongoing TIA testing; type approval remains in progress.
Joby AviationMLIT confirms acceptance of the type-certification application. Technical assessment and FAA coordination follow; acceptance is not certification.
MLIT / JCABApproval applies to Sarla as a design organisation; Shunya has not thereby received a type certificate.
Sarla AviationDemonstration flight event, not certification or scheduled passenger service.
Archer AviationNorth Texas demonstrations bring the aircraft closer to real operating environments while FAA certification work continues.
The engineering partnership centres on Shunya and its path through aircraft development.
The company reports on its aircraft development and commercialisation programme. Targets remain subject to technical and regulatory progress.
Scope & methodology
A global, source-linked research snapshot of aircraft developers, operators, infrastructure and enabling technology. Includes selected historical programmes and established manufacturers. Coverage is expanding; this is not a census of every concept in the VFS directory. Counts describe records reviewed here, not the entire industry.
120 source records, 21 dated milestones and 33 mapped locations. Aircraft specifications use canonical metric units. Undisclosed values are never filled from unrelated variants.
Searches covered North America, Europe, East and South Asia, the Middle East, Oceania, Latin America and Africa. Current coverage is strongest where accessible primary sources were found; no African entity met this pass’s primary-source threshold.
| Candidate | Region | Decision | Research note |
|---|---|---|---|
| XPeng AeroHT / HT Aero | Asia | Excluded duplicate | Successive names represented by ARIDGE; do not count as three companies.Vertical Flight Society |
| Uber Elevate | North America | Excluded duplicate | Acquired programme represented in Joby context; not an independent current aircraft company.Vertical Flight Society |
| BETA CTOL / VTOL | North America | Excluded duplicate | One company with two separately tracked aircraft variants.Vertical Flight Society |
| Volocopter / e-volo | Europe | Excluded duplicate | Corporate history represented in one profile, with Diamond/Wanfeng ownership source.Vertical Flight Society |
| Pegasus Universal Aerospace | Africa | Unresolved | VFS discovery identifies South African programme; official site could not be verified during this pass. No unsupported specifications imported.Vertical Flight Society |
| ASKA / Alef / Overair | North America | Unresolved | Current corporate status and accessible primary technical evidence require further review.Vertical Flight Society |
| Evolito | Europe | Unresolved | Named by aircraft partners; standalone corporate record awaits a verified source set.Vertical Flight Society |
| Unspecified VFS concept entries | Global | Outside scope | Directory includes many historical and speculative concepts. Publication in discovery index alone is insufficient for current operating-company status.Vertical Flight Society |
Photographs identify their actual aircraft or historical demonstrator. Companies without cleared photographs use labelled identity graphics.
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