Honeywell Aerospace is to lead a major European initiative to accelerate the safe integration of piloted eVTOLs and remotely operated cargo drones into continental airspace.
Awarded under the European Union’s SESAR Joint Undertaking, Project VERTI-GO will see the 12-partner consortium focus on two pathways: one for eVTOL operations with an onboard pilot and one for remotely operated cargo drone operations. Both project pathways will conduct simulations and demonstrations in European locations. Piloted eVTOL flights, to be conducted by Vertical Aerospace in the south of Spain, will be monitored by aviation authorities to help build trust for future operations. Odys Aviation will serve as the project’s remotely operated cargo drone demonstration partner and the results of these simulations aim to contribute to future standards and regulations for operations in Europe.
“Integrating new aircraft types into already busy airspace requires new procedures, new levels of automation and new ways of managing traffic,” said Jolana Dvorská, senior technical manager at Honeywell Aerospace. “The question is no longer whether these aircraft can fly and perform, but how they can operate safely at large scale within Europe’s existing airspace.”
Key areas of project VERTI-GO include digital flight planning, vertiports and emergency landing site management, as well as the use of automation to support eVTOL operators and air traffic controllers. Simulations and demonstrations will form the centerpiece of the project, including flight demonstrations using Vertical Aerospace’s prototype eVTOL between Malaga and Marbella in Spain, expected to take place during 2028.
For passengers, this would help to enable faster urban and regional travel, support additional regional routes through new connections between cities, airports and surrounding regions and enable smoother door-to-door journeys via future vertiport networks.
For remotely operated travel, project VERTI-GO aims to enable SAIL-IV-category cargo drone operations (a European regulatory category for more complex remotely operated operations) through real-world demonstrations at selected European locations.
VERTI-GO project partners include technology providers (Honeywell Aerospace and Frequentis), platform manufacturers (Vertical Aerospace and Odys Aviation), air navigation service providers (Air Navigation Services of the Czech Republic, NATS and ENAIRE), research institutions (ITG and CRIDA), an airport and vertiport operator (Aena), an electric aircraft operator (Aeros Electric Airlines) and an intergovernmental organisation (EUROCONTROL).
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Image: SESAR JU