Farnborough International Airshow 2024 welcomed more than 100,000 attendees, 1500 exhibitors, and just under 500 international delegations.
The airshow was also a chance for people to experience the future of transport, eVTOL aircraft.
Making their Farnborough debut were Crisalion Mobility, a company in the design and development of advanced, efficient, safe, and sustainable electrical mobility solutions.
The company exhibited a model of their Integrity eVTOL, and provided visitors with an opportunity to experience a flight in an electric aircraft with their immersive virtual reality simulator.
Discussing the company’s activity at Farnborough Airshow, Manuel Heredia Ortiz, Managing Director, told Advanced Air Mobility International; “During the week we announced a number of agreements with companies, including Wilbur Air. This was a very significant step for us, not only because of the scale of the deal (100 units of the aircraft) but also because it’s the first we have made outside of Europe. We also announced another with Air Chateau, a private helicopter operator, who have signed a business agreement for 10 units. A really positive outcome.”
Crisalion’s Integrity aircraft, designed for up to five passengers and a pilot, has a cruising speed of 180km, a range of 130km, and a payload of 400kg. The aircraft’s characteristics make it ideal for urban and intercity passenger and cargo transport. It is designed with FlyFree Technology, a propulsion technology capable of controlling the aircraft’s movement in all directions.
Manuel provided an update on the aircraft, which is currently in the development phase, saying; “We are still on plan. The brief started around 2018, and in the first few years we worked on a unique technology called FlyFree. We spent the best part of five years fine tuning this technology and maturing it. We have built a full-size demonstrator that we have been flying indoors and outdoors. In 2023 we decided it was time to make it into a commercial product so we started to incorporate market requirements and certification requirements, and we evolved from a concept demonstrator into Integrity.
“The main goal for this year was to start test flights with a scaled-down prototype to complete all the aerodynamic studies, validation tests in a wind tunnel, and for all of this we are still on track. We have already started launching manufacturing of the full-scale static demonstrator.
“We are expecting to have a flying full-scale aircraft at the end of 2026 for validation tests and then we will start the flight test campaign with a conforming aircraft around 2028 with a target to have the aircraft certified and enter into service by 2030.”
The company also hosted a discussion panel at the airshow with experts from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), EUROCONTROL, and Air Chateau to discuss the future of Advanced Air Mobility with a keynote where Crisalion presented their view on how industry is going to evolve.
Looking at the near to long-term future for the Advanced Air Mobility industry, Manuel stated; “I like to refer to the strategic plan that Saudi Arabia published recently. When they made their forecast of how the market is going to evolve they say it’ll take maybe 2-3 years to put together all the pieces of the puzzle, certification of the aircraft, the maturation of the regulation, the building of the infrastructure, the air traffic control, the current solutions for air traffic management don’t really scale so well so we need to find some other solutions.
“A few years to put things in place which means that we will definitely see some activity and we will see some pilot deployment, but it will take a bit longer before we see widespread implementation.
“Over the next 5-10 years, there will be a market which will be driven by supply. There is a huge appetite for this product and it’s not entirely suprising because the value proposition is really impressive. We are offering the convenience of a helicopter with no emissions, significantly lower noise, and lower cost of operation partly because of energy cost and partly lower needs for maintenance. Only after 10-15 years is when the real competition between OEMs will start where an operator will have a choice between different aircraft and will look at performances and one vs the other.”
He added; “I’m playing it safe by quoting this study but I think it’s quite spot on, maybe with one caveat. Saudi Arabia, the Gulf countries in general, has all the wind blowing in the right direction to make things happen earlier there. I can imagine the market in Europe will take a bit longer to develop. Why? Because some of the factors that are pushing Advanced Air Mobility develop in the Middle East. There is availability of funding, they have very new infrastructure to integrate this type of transport, they already have a heavy use of helicopters anyway, and there is a strong political will and very coordinated at different levels. We have seen the discussions around the Paris Olympics, it is a bit more difficult in Europe to get everyone to align. Overall, the market is heading in the right direction.”
