Halo has entered into a partnership with Eve Urban Air Mobility Solutions to develop UAM products and services in the US and the UK. Halo is a merger of the UK's Halo Aviation and Associated Aircraft Group in the US, both of which were acquired by Directional Aviation earlier this year. Its partnership with Eve includes an order for 200 of Eve's eVTOL aircraft. Deliveries are expected to start in 2026. This order represents one of the largest in the UAM industry and secures Halo as the launch partner for Eve in both the US and the UK markets.

Under the terms of this agreement Halo, a premium helicopter travel provider in the US and UK and the first global vertical lift provider, will work with Eve to develop a new eVTOL operation in both countries. Eve is an independent company formed by Embraer S.A. to accelerate the UAM ecosystem around the world.

“We believe Eve has designed an aircraft that is well prepared for not only initial certification but also has a proven track record of production,” says Kenneth C. Ricci, principal of Directional Aviation, the investment fund of which Halo is a part. “The outstanding lineage of aircraft design, certification and production that Embraer brings to this aircraft positions Eve with significant advantages in the competitive landscape. And our background as operators has taught us that product support is absolutely vital to the overall success of new programmes. The relationship between Embraer and Eve will create one of the most successful global product support infrastructures in the industry. Finally, the work that Eve and Embraer have completed around their traffic management system is just one more example of how uniquely positioned Eve is to help us deliver on our vision.”

Eve CEO Andre Stein adds: “This partnership is an important step for Eve to assume its position as a global leader in the UAM industry. We are ready to build the future of mobility with our partners in an extremely collaborative way. Halo is aligned with our mission to create comprehensive urban air mobility solutions, and this order marks an important milestone for Eve in key markets. We are confident that this mutually beneficial relationship will have a positive impact for many future users and enable both companies to grow their businesses exponentially.”

This collaboration, the first international eVTOL operator partnership of its kind, will benefit from the work that Eve has already invested in the UK market as the leader of a consortium that is solving the regulatory and operational issues to bring eVTOL operations to London. In collaboration with the UK CAA's ‘innovation sandbox’ programme, Eve and Halo's partnership will be one of the first operators to build upon this exciting work and continue to develop London as a viable and attractive market for UAM operations.

Beyond the initial order and collaboration to develop a new eVTOL operation, Eve and Halo will also partner on the continued development of Eve's urban air traffic management system as well as the fleet operations and services product offerings that Eve offers as an ecosystem integrator for UAM operations. The strength of Halo's international operations, together with Eve's UAM portfolio, will be an important demonstration of how such partnerships can increase accessibility and affordability as these two companies work to safely scale UAM operations around the world.

Benefitting from a startup mindset and backed by Embraer's more than 50-year history of aircraft manufacturing and certification expertise, Eve unveils a unique value proposition by positioning itself as an ecosystem partner by offering a suite of products and services. Eve's human-centred, eVTOL design represents a simple and intuitive design that continues to reach development milestones, including the first flight of the engineering simulator in July 2020 and proof of concept in October 2020. In addition to the aircraft programme, Eve is harnessing the expertise of both Embraer and Atech, a subsidiary of the Embraer Group, in providing globally recognised air traffic management software to create the solutions that will help safely scale the UAM industry going forward.