Vertical Aerospace CEO: 'We're kind of cleaning the regulatory pipeline' for eVTOL certification

Vertical Aerospace CEO Stuart Simpson, speaking at the CAPA Airline Leader Summit - Airlines in Transition, commented (24-Apr-2026) on the ongoing certification process for its Valo eVTOL aircraft, stating: "We have proved our aircraft works, the concept works, there's a 90% read-across from that to the certification model". Mr Simpson added: "We have a timeline of that for 2028 and I reset that [target] in 2024. It was a big deal for our board because back then all our competitors were targeting certification for 2024 or 2025". Mr Simpson added: "You cannot mislead investors, customers, regulators [or] partners. When we said 2028, the [UK] CAA and EASA came onsite, reviewed our programme and said they would work with us to put this product into the market by 2029, after certification in 2028". Mr Simpson concluded: "We are the only company in the world doing this to this standard, we'll be the first in the world to be certified, so we're kind of cleaning the regulatory pipeline... The big challenge is getting the regulators to come with us". [more - CAPA TV]