In 2024, Germany’s flagship electric vertical take-off and landing developers, Lilium and Volocopter, both ran out of money after failing in last-ditch attempts to secure government funding. In the midst of his campaign for federal and state loan guarantees, Lilium’s then-CEO, Klaus Roewe, argued passionately for government support. “There has never been a successful aircraft program in the world…
Boeing has begun formal certification trials of the engine anti-ice (EAI) design fix for its 737 Max family, according to people familiar with the program, a significant milestone in the long-delayed entry into commercial service of the Max 7 and 10 derivatives. Flight tests of the newly-revised design are being conducted on Boeing’s lead 737 Max 10 test aircraft, one of the final hurdles before…
In November 2025, Vertical Aerospace chairman Dómhnal Slattery proclaimed on the company’s third-quarter earnings call that the U.K.-based electric vertical take-off and landing developer was “within weeks” of completing a successful piloted transition flight with its prototype VX4 aircraft. Four months later, Slattery acknowledged that his declaration had been premature. “The reality is, it’s…
Boeing received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration for its new increased maximum takeoff weight (iMTOW) variants of the 787-9 and 787-10 long-haul widebodies, the company said on March 23. The approval from the U.S. aviation regulator is the first significant certification granted to the plane maker since March 2021 when the FAA signed off on the 737 Max 8200, a high-density…
Five years after revealing its plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange, electric vertical take-off and landing developer Archer Aviation announced on its March 2 earnings call that the Federal Aviation Administration has accepted 100% of the means of compliance for its Midnight air taxi. Means of compliance (MOCs) are the detailed design standards used to show compliance with airworthiness…
Boeing has decommissioned its last 787-8 test aircraft, a workhorse for the plane maker for over a decade and a half and a symbol of the company’s massive investment in development of the advanced jetliner. The aircraft, which first flew on Feb. 24, 2010, was formally celebrated by Boeing in an internal ceremony last Friday. It is expected to leave Boeing Field as early as Wednesday, Feb. 11, two…
Not that long ago, Germany was the center of gravity for Europe’s burgeoning electric vertical take-off and landing industry, home to ambitious aircraft development programs at Lilium, Volocopter and Airbus. By 2025, those dreams had collapsed. Lilium and Volocopter went bankrupt and had their intellectual property sold to foreign entities, while Airbus put its CityAirbus eVTOL on ice, no longer…