Air Greenland to acquire Vertical Aerospace’s eVTOL aircraft from Avolon

Vertical Aerospace’s VX4 eVTOL aircraft may join Air Greenland’s fleet through a partnership that the airline has established with Avolon.

The companies announced the partnership today, which includes a commitment from the airline to purchase or lease a number of VX4 eVTOLs from Avolon, making Air Greenland the first European airline to join Avolon’s eVTOL program.

As part of the agreement, Air Greenland and the international aircraft leasing company will form a task force to examine the market opportunity for eVTOL operations in the region, as well as identify the infrastructure and certification needed to support the eVTOL aircraft. After the working group’s assessment is finished, Air Greenland will then decide how many eVTOLs it will purchase or lease to join its fleet.

In June, Avolon pre-ordered 500 of Vertical’s VX4 eVTOL aircraft, valued at US$2 billion, with the intention of placing them with various airline customers around the world. Avolon has already placed up to 90% of its orderbook, which includes 250 with Gol and Grupo Comporte in Brazil, up to 100 with Japan Airlines, and at least 100 with AirAsia. This leaves around 50 aircraft from its initial orderbook.

“Since our initial order, we have seen airlines all over the world make a commitment to zero-emissions travel by selecting the VX4 aircraft as the first step in their decarbonization journey,” said Dómhnal Slattery, CEO of Avolon, in a press release. “[This] announcement with Air Greenland means we are taking zero-emissions travel to where climate change is having its most pronounced impact.”

Jacob Nitter Sørensen, CEO of Air Greenland, said there’s many potential uses for the VX4 aircraft, including “flying our guests to Ilimanaq Lodge to show the visible impacts that climate change is having on our country and planet.”

Vertical is developing a five-seat eVTOL aircraft with a targeted range of more than 100 miles (161 kilometers), and speeds of up to 200 miles per hour (322 kilometers per hour).

The U.K. eVTOL developer has secured a total of 1,350 conditional pre-orders for its aircraft, worth about US$5.4 billion. Along with Avolon, its customers include American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Iberojet, Bristow Group, and Marubeni.