Future flight
Boeing's Wisk is among the eVTOL companies planning to demonstrate mock ups at FIA 2024. (Stephen Bridgewater/RAeS)
Future flight and advanced air mobility (AAM) will be another key theme of the show – as the first wave of eVTOL developers now head towards certification. Future flight has evolved over the past few years at major air shows, growing from a few small companies sharing their ambitious plans to becoming a now prominent theme, with many businesses showcasing life-size mock-ups of technology that is nearing service entry. To encourage increased collaboration between industry, regulators, investors, academia and more, FIA is hosting a Global Urban & Advanced Air Summit on the Thursday of the airshow.
Though the UK’s Vertical Aerospace will now not be flying its second VX-4 prototype at the show after the hard landing of its first air vehicle, Farnborough will see Wisk and for the first time, Supernal, bring their full eVTOL aircraft mock-up to the show. Furthermore,
Lilium plans on bringing a full-size scale mock-up of its Lilium Jet, as well as
Joby Aviation which will show a model of its four-passenger vehicle. However,
some top eVTOL companies seem to missing from the exhibitor list, including
Archer Aviation, who explained that taking its Midnight aircraft to Farnborough would take too much time and money out of its certification and flight testing programme, according to
Aerospace America. Meanwhile, China’s Ehang is not listed as an exhibitor, and Volocopter has said it is still deciding whether it plans on having any presence at all at the air show, as it currently is focusing on completing piloted demonstration flights of its VoloCity at the Paris Olympics. With the German company’s current financial struggles, its lack of presence may not come as a surprise.