Ascendance Flight Technologies has signed large-scale technical partnership agreements with leading players in the aeronautics industry for the development and industrialisation of its Atea eVTOL aircraft and Sterna modular hybrid propulsion technology. It has also signed 110 new letters of intent to purchase with two future clients: France-based aircraft lessor Green Aerolease and a soon to be named customer, bringing its order book to 505 purchase orders from international operators.

The design and marketing of an hybrid-powered eVTOL aircraft such as the Atea represents a real technological challenge, so Ascendance has decided to become part of a global ecosystem to develop its technologies and to address the challenges of tomorrow's air mobility.

The company has assembled the best technological partners with expertise in the manufacture of aerostructure and composite materials for the aircraft prototype. Solvay and Airborne will be working together to develop the prototype aircraft's aerostructure and prepare the required materials. Solvay has significant expertise in the development of lightweight composite materials based on resins and polymers to create efficient, lighter and more sustainable aircraft, while Airborne specialises in the design and production of composite structures, tooling and industrialisation solutions.

These two major partnerships are launching the production phase of Ascendance's life size flying prototype, scheduled to fly in 2024. Those production, assembly and flight test activities will support the industrialisation of Ascendance's serial aircraft, which is scheduled to enter into service in 2027.

To date, the OEM has pre-orders for Atea from customers on three continents: EvFly in Singapore; FlyShare in California; HeliFirst in France; Jet Systems Helicoptères Services in France; PhilJets Group in Philippines; Yugo in Singapore; Green Aerolease in France; and aircraft lessor Amedeo in Ireland.

In addition, Sigma Air Mobility, a Luxaviation affiliate, is to develop networks of eVTOL routes to cover regional distances and launch decentralised aviation by connecting regional cities and communities with less access than the major cities in partnership with Ascendance, who has also signed a partnership agreement with Latvian airline airBaltic to examine and integrate eVTOL aircraft into the airline's future operations.

"These new technical and business partnerships are a fantastic boost to the design, industrialisation and sales of our Atea aircraft. The first flight of our life size flying prototype is scheduled for 2024, powered by our proprietary hybrid-electric technology Sterna, and will be a major step towards the first flight scheduled for 2024. We are progressing rapidly and successfully towards our objective: to reduce the environmental impact of aviation and to make Ascendance Flight Technologies a significant player in the energy transition," says co-founder and CEO Jean-Christophe Lambert.

Alongside this, Daher Aerospace is to research the hybridising of its propulsion systems based on the Sterna engine. Ascendance will contribute its expertise in hybrid-electric propulsion systems architecture, modelling, integration and testing in order to test the technology on successful CS23-category aircraft, designed and marketed by Daher Aerospace.

“We’re delighted to be partnering with Ascendance Flight Technologies. As a major player in general aviation, Daher Group is totally committed to achieving the goals around decarbonising aviation by 2050 and taking significant steps forward towards that goal during this decade. This new collaboration illustrates the 360 degree innovation strategy we’re now implementing to make that happen,” says CEO Didier Kayat.

“Daher is a high-profile aircraft manufacturer, with a very high level of technical expertise and aircraft that are respected and renowned in their market segments. So we’re delighted to have this opportunity of contributing our expertise and technologies to this family-owned French group with which we share the goal of accelerating the decarbonisation of aviation,” adds Lambert.