Airbus Expands Advanced Air Mobility Presence by Introducing CityAirbus NextGen eVTOL Prototype

On March 7, European aerospace giant Airbus unveiled the company's latest prototype eVTOL aircraft to the public. The unveiling comes ahead of the electric aircraft's maiden flight later this year. 

The eVTOL prototype, dubbed CityAirbus NextGen, was unveiled on the ground of a new Airbus test center for eVTOL aircraft in Donauwörth, Germany. The unveiling occurred on the facility's opening day. The primary objective of the new Airbus facility will be to test systems for eVTOL aircraft, such as the latest, fully assembled prototype that the company has unveiled and future iterations of the CityAirbus to come. 

Airbus' Head of Urban Air Mobility Balkiz Sarihan said about the aircraft:

"Rolling out CityAirbus NextGen for the very first time is an important and very real step that we are taking towards advanced air mobility and our future product and market. Thank you to our community, team, and partners all over the world for helping us make this a reality."

CityAirbus NextGen

The Airbus eVTOL aircraft will have 16 electrical power units, which will power the eight propeller motors on the plane. The design of the CityAirbus NextGen features a V-shaped tail and eight propellers as part of its uniquely designed distributed propulsion system. The two-tonne City Airbus eVTOL aircraft has a wingspan of 12 meters (~39 feet). Airbus aims to develop its new eVTOL so that when the aircraft is released to the public, it will feature a range of 80 kilometers (50 miles). Airbus aims to develop its eVTOL to carry four passengers, which, according to the European aerospace company, makes the aircraft "perfectly suited for operations in major cities for a variety of missions." 

The CityAirbus NextGen completed its first power-on by Airbus engineers in December 2023. This is done as a prerequisite before test flights can be performed to test all of an experimental aircraft's onboard systems and engines to ensure the safety of an experimental aircraft before it takes to the air. The NextGen is scheduled to take to the air sometime later this year and will be remotely controlled during its first flight. 

Engineers at Airbus plan to use new technologies in designing NextGen's controls, such as Millennium single stick control and a Vertex autonomy system. The latter of the two technologies would allow the eVTOL to be piloted remotely like a drone. Airbus is determined to become an industry leader in advanced air mobility (AAM). The European aerospace company was among the first to develop eVTOL demonstrator aircraft: Vahana in 2018 and CityAirbus in 2019. The NextGen is the successor to the CityAirbus.

The company plans to leverage and build more partnerships with numerous companies worldwide to make selling eVTOLs commercially possible and viable. Airbus has announced agreements with operators such as Hiratagakuen in Japan and, most notably, the Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation (NAAF). With the NAAF, Airbus hopes to explore the possibilities of using eVTOLs as air ambulances or medevacs.