The FAA has issued a special airworthiness certificate to Beta Technologies allowing the company to operate its Alia 250 eVTOL aircraft for passenger-carrying “market survey” flights. The Vermont-based company announced what it described as a “first-of-its-kind” approval on Wednesday, saying it is now cleared to conduct flight operations with prospective customers.

The U.S. Air Force has awarded blended-wing-body aircraft developer Natilus $3.5 million to advance its optionally-piloted ‘Kona’ freighter aircraft. As the San Diego-based start-up works toward its full-scale prototype’s first flight in 2028, the funding will also support Kona’s targeted entry into commercial service by the end of the decade. 

Archer Aviation has completed an extensive campaign of piloted flight tests in Northern California with its Midnight eVTOL aircraft. On Monday, the company said the prototype is now being moved to the Los Angeles area after a week of flights in and around San Francisco Bay from a base at Oakland International Airport (KOAK).

A public-private partnership has selected five sites in Norway to host a series of upcoming hybrid-electric flight demonstrations. The initiative, which will exclusively feature Electra Aero’s EL2 technology demonstrator, builds on previous work carried out by different OEMs. The EL2’s first Norwegian flights are slated to start in the third quarter of 2027.

DTA Aircraft brought its JP1 two-seat hybrid-electric multicopter to the NBAA-BACE show this week with a pitch to business jet owners: fly yourself from home to the airport where your jet is based, skipping the traffic. The French maker of gyroplanes and ultralight trikes says some private aircraft owners have already placed pre-orders.

Beyond Aero has signed letters of intent for around 200 examples of its BYA-1 hydrogen-electric business airplane. As of mid-October, the French start-up reported agreements with 43 different prospective operators, which—if firmed up—would lead to sales worth more than $2 billion, implying a base price of around $10 million per airplane.

A battery test pack caught fire on October 12 at Archer Aviation’s battery lab in San Jose, California, after its lithium-ion cells overheated in a chain reaction known as thermal runaway. Archer reported that the fire injured three people and forced about 100 to evacuate. Company CEO Adam Goldstein said the pack was a next-generation battery for “a future pipeline program,” not for its Midnight eVTOL air taxi.

Skyportz and Dubai-based Foster Aviation are partnering to develop vertiports for eVTOL aircraft in the UAE. The companies announced the move this week, explaining that the new facilities will use Skyportz’s patented Aeroberm technology, for which it is now taking advance orders and it will start testing at full scale in 2027.