WDS: AutoFlight angling for eVTOL demo in KSA in 2024

Before year-end, AutoFlight’s electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft will undertake a demonstration flight programme in Saudi Arabia.

Autoflight’s Federico Nordenstahl aims to see its eVTOL flying in Saudi Arabia this year. (Photo: BillyPix)

AutoFlight is cooperating with Saudi telecommunications giant Mobily at WDS as the next stage in a drive to bring its eVTOL technology to this region, said Federico Nordenstahl, managing director EMEA.  “After China, our next target is the Middle East for development as a sales market, plus – in the future – assembly, manufacturing and research,” he said.

“Certification of the aircraft starts with China and then our journey is to go to the first technology-friendly countries looking for innovation in this market,” said Nordenstahl. The firm is “almost done” with certification of its first eVTOL version of the aircraft in China.

AutoFlight is “very open” about which country it will select in the Middle East and showed the aircraft at the Dubai airshow in November 2023. “Being close to where your demand sits is a smart move,” said Nordenstahl.

At WDS, AutoFlight has been pleased with the interest in its innovative aircraft, especially from VIPs looking for air taxi passenger services, in addition to interest in cargo and fire-fighting versions of the machine, said Nordenstahl. The eVTOL is not aimed at any military applications, he added.

 

 

 

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