Vertical Aerospace has opened a dedicated Aircraft Assembly Centre at its Cotswold Airport campus, marking a major operational shift as it transitions from prototype flight testing toward certification and low-rate commercial manufacturing.
The opening ceremony coincided with National Manufacturing Day in the UK, delivering on a previously announced 2026 milestone. Backed by a £1.5 million investment, the new 60,000-square-foot facility expands Vertical’s presence at Cotswold Airport to roughly 130,000 square feet. The unified site combines engineering, aircraft assembly, ground operations, and flight-test functions into a single operational hub.
The Assembly Centre represents the initial phase of Vertical’s phased manufacturing roadmap. The facility provides the structural capacity needed to build certification-conforming Valo electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. These aircraft will undertake compliance demonstration and verification testing in coordination with the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to meet Vertical’s target of achieving Type Certification in 2029. Assembly of the first certification-conforming airframe is scheduled to begin in Q4 2027.
Beyond pure electric production, the facility will serve near-term flight-test objectives. In the first half of 2027, engineering teams will retrofit an existing prototype aircraft at the centre to evaluate hybrid-electric flight dynamics. The project aligns with interest recently confirmed by the UK Ministry of Defence regarding Vertical’s hybrid-electric and autonomous flight systems.
Once Type Certification is secured, the centre will handle initial customer deliverables, with a designed capacity to manufacture more than 25 Valo units per year during early production. Vertical plans to announce details for a separate, full-scale production facility, intended to accommodate high-volume manufacturing, in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Stuart Simpson, Chief Executive Officer at Vertical, said, “Opening our Aircraft Assembly Centre is an important step in Vertical’s transition from prototype developer to aircraft manufacturer, and another milestone delivered as we advance Valo towards certification. This facility gives us the capability we need to assemble our certification aircraft and support initial customer deliveries, while maintaining capital discipline as we prepare for higher-volume production.
“Bringing a new category of aircraft to market is a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and it is especially rewarding to do that here in Great Britain, drawing on the country’s proud aviation heritage. By bringing aircraft assembly and flight testing together at Cotswold Airport, we can work more efficiently, reduce execution risk and remain focused on our target of certifying Valo in 2029.”
Fabrice Brégier, Chair of Vertical Aerospace, who attended the opening, added, “I am delighted to be here today for one of my first engagements as Chair of Vertical. Having spent much of my career bringing complex aircraft programmes into production, I know how important it is to develop manufacturing capability in step with certification. This is tangible evidence of the Company’s progress as it moves from prototype development towards becoming an aircraft manufacturer.”
At the assembly line, Vertical will integrate core tier-one supplier components. The Valo build process combines airframe structures from Sonaca, electric propulsion units from Evolito, flight control and management systems from Honeywell Aerospace, and Vertical’s proprietary battery architecture.
Co-locating final assembly with active flight-test operations allows completed aircraft to transition rapidly to ground and flight testing. The arrangement creates tighter feedback loops across manufacturing, engineering, and test crews, mitigating system integration risks throughout the regulatory validation process.
Manufacturing expansion extends beyond airframe assembly. Vertical is scheduled to open its expanded Vertical Energy Centre later this year, an upgrade intended to triple internal battery manufacturing capacity over time to supply its proprietary battery packs.
