Air Courtage Assurances is to provide an eVTOL insurance product, exclusively for clients of Skyfly’s Axe aircraft.
Air Courtage has designed official in-house insurance coverage for members of the UK Light Aircraft Association (LAA), which is expected to be the first organization to certify the Axe eVTOL.
Air Courtage will underwrite the Axe eVTOL insurance with one of the world’s largest insurers, whom it has worked with on an extensive risk analysis. The process is said to have been made much easier because of the Axe’s many layers of safety redundancy, but also because the Axe is a fully-functioning fixed-wing aircraft, which insurers are already familiar with.
Jaap Rademaker, Skyfly CCO, said: “With series production underway for the Axe EVTOL and our first customers due to receive their aircraft next year, we turned to Air Courtage – the insurance broker of choice for the UK LAA – to develop a bespoke insurance product for owners of our Axe eVTOL. Air Courtage immediately understood the unique aspects of our design – with its four wings, 8 fixed-angle motors, and ballistic parachute – and the resulting greater safety. The four wings enable the Axe to fly like a fixed-wing airplane whilst it is also able to fly like a helicopter, taking off and landing vertically. Air Courtage used this to make the case to their underwriters – no easy task with an entirely new kind of aircraft, but it helps that the Axe is demonstrably safer than both airplanes and helicopters. Air Courtage is innovative, has a can-do mentality and relishes the challenge of enabling the global eVTOL revolution and sustainable aviation.”
Caroline Cognet Renard, Air Courtage Assurances Group CEO, commented: “We are strongly convinced we have to play a role to enable aviation-related innovative and meaningful projects to thrive in the face of the many challenges stakeholders face. The Axe eVTOL by Skyfly fits perfectly in our global strategy to package, with our insurance partners, the right solutions for the future needs of aviation. SkyFly recognized that, with over 26,000 aircraft of any type, 30,000 pilots and more that 1,600 UAV operators already insured through Air Courtage, Air Courtage was the right partner to create the right insurance product for Axe owners and give them peace of mind in flying properly insured.”
Laurent Détroyat, Strategic Commercial Development Lead at Air Courtage Assurances, commented: “This is the first aircraft of its kind that links the known personal fixed–wing aircraft environment with the real novelty of electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. From the specifications presented, this aircraft can glide. In that regard, it provides extra layers of safety which both insurers and users appreciate. We also like the aeronautical expertise and clarity of the team at Skyfly and this helped us to create a product.”
Maud Badot, Skyfly Project Manager, Air Courtage Assurances, added: “Thanks to the thoroughly calculated, clear and transparent information provided by Skyfly, we have been able to find a leading global player in the insurance industry ready to accompany us to manage the risk of this project. Insurance is all about safety, ‘low loss -ratio’ and the project proposed by Skyfly is good enough to have a partner following.”
Based in France, Air Courtage currently insures approximately 26,000 aircraft in Europe, of which almost half are kit-built or light aircraft, like the Axe eVTOL. The company is also the insurer of choice for the United Kingdom Light Aircraft Association, which is expected to become the first national body to certify the Axe in 2024. As such, many Axe eVTOLs are likely to operate on the Light Aircraft Association (LAA) register.
According to Air Courtage, its existing partnership with the UK LAA means that LAA-registered Axe eVTOLs should automatically qualify for Air Courtage’s LAA-wide insurance offering, allowing Axe owners to get insurance enabling them to fly their personal Axe eVTOL straight away.
