Flying taxis have moved a step closer to becoming a fixture buzzing across the world’s urban skyscapes after startups in the U.K. and Brazil made commercial breakthroughs and a closely watched effort was unveiled in Los Angeles.
Vertical Aerospace Group, based in Bristol, England, won conditional orders for as many as 1,000 electric aircraft that could total $4 billion from buyers including American Airlines Group Inc. and Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd., it said last week.
Brazil’s Embraer SA separately confirmed it’s in talks to merge its unit developing electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or eVTOLs, into a public company, sending the stock surging.