Vertical Aerospace has delayed type certification of its Valo eVTOL air taxi to 2029, a year later than its previous target.
UK-based Vertical had previously flagged rising risk to its 2028 goal, and now expects to certify the Valo aircraft in 2029. The revised schedule follows the recent completion of piloted transition flight testing and preparation for a critical design review (CDR).
In a press release Vertical said the timeline “reflects the rigour of certifying an entirely new class of aircraft under an established regulatory certification framework.”
Vertical delayed certification of its eVTOL from 2026 to 2028 in 2024. The one-year delay to 2029 now puts the company a year behind US-based rivals such as Joby Aviation and Beta Technologies.
The company said its certification pathway under the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) remained clear and well-defined, and that the program was fully supported by its regulators. The aircraft is being certified concurrently by the two authorities.
Vertical expects to complete the CDR by the end of this year, establishing the certifiable design baseline needed to build and test certification-conforming Valo aircraft.
Vertical CEO Stuart Simpson said, “We’re focused on executing against our certification objectives. The successful piloted transition and the upcoming CDR materially advance and de-risk the programme.
“We remain highly confident in the huge market opportunity and our competitive positioning, rooted in Valo’s distinct differentiators, including the largest, safest, most versatile aircraft built to meet the world’s highest safety standards, enabling a global opportunity for Vertical.”
The 2029 target follows recent flight-test progress. In April, Vertical completed a two-way piloted transition flight with a VX4 prototype — the flying testbed for the Valo design — which the company said made it only the second developer worldwide to reach the milestone and the first under the CAA’s Design Organisation Approval.
On July 10 the company received an expanded permit to fly from the CAA, authorizing the VX4’s first public demonstration flights away from Cotswold Airport, and it has added a further prototype to its flight-test fleet. Vertical plans to bring an early production aircraft assembly facility online in the third quarter of 2026 and an expanded Vertical Energy Centre for its batteries in the fourth quarter.
A hybrid-electric variant of Valo, offering up to 1,000 miles (1,600km) of range and payloads of up to 2,425lb (1,100kg) over shorter distances, has begun testing on a dedicated propulsion rig, with flight testing due in the first half of 2027. Built on the same airframe as the all-electric aircraft, the variant is aimed at defense, logistics and special-mission markets.
According to Vertical it holds around 1,500 conditional pre-orders with an estimated value of around US$6 billion across four continents, including from American Airlines, Bristow and Japan Airlines.
