Britain’s flying taxi champion has committed to building its aircraft at home, promising more than 1,000 British jobs and thousands more across an SME-heavy supply chain, after the new government pledged a further £10 million to keep the company from decamping to America.
The funding for Vertical Aerospace, one of the first commitments of Andy Burnham’s new administration, takes total taxpayer investment in the programme to £48 million. It builds on earlier rounds of government backing for the Bristol-founded firm’s electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft.
For the small and medium-sized engineering firms that make up the backbone of Britain’s aerospace supply chain, the numbers are the story. Vertical says anchoring the business in the UK will create up to an initial 1,000 direct jobs and support a further 2,000 to 3,000 in the supply chain.
Chief executive Stuart Simpson said the funding, alongside promises of lending support from UK Export Finance, means the company will now begin scouting for a British aircraft production site and a location for a battery gigafactory.
“We have been saying to the government that this is a phenomenal opportunity if we can anchor this business in the UK, creating up to an initial 1,000 jobs and supporting a further 2,000 to 3,000 in the supply chain,” said Simpson. “Now we can after this major vote of confidence from the UK government in Vertical.”
He added: “This is our aerospace sector and the UK’s opportunity to lead the next generation of aviation. The UK has backed us from the earliest stages of the programme and with proposed support we can build aircraft that will be exported to customers around the world.”
Vertical plans to build its first Valo flying taxis at its development facilities at Cotswold airport in Gloucestershire, targeting certification in 2029 and service entry soon after. It aims to produce 150 aircraft in its first year, ramping up to 1,000 a year from 2030.
The six-seater Valo, with a top speed of 150mph and a 100-mile range, is seen in time as a replacement for noisy, gas-guzzling helicopters. The first aircraft are likely to shuttle airline passengers between central London and Heathrow, with similar plans for New York. A hybrid military version with an on-board gas turbine generator is planned, capable of ranges up to 1,000 miles.
The company passed a further milestone at the Farnborough Airshow on Monday with the first public flight of the Valo’s predecessor prototype, the VX4. The decision to expand in Britain also lands in an industry already struggling to fill 10,000 vacancies a year, a reminder that the promised jobs will need a skills pipeline to match.
The real question had been whether Vertical, founded by Ovo Energy entrepreneur Stephen Fitzpatrick but now controlled by an American hedge fund, would be forced abroad, most likely to the US, to fund a new manufacturing facility. The answer matters for a sector ministers have been courting, with a £46.5 million package to fast-track drones and flying taxis announced in May.
Business owners tempted by the flying taxi gold rush should note the turbulence en route. Vertical has weathered the operational failure of a prototype, the withdrawal of support from Rolls-Royce and a cash crunch that forced Fitzpatrick to cede control. Valued at more than $2 billion when it joined the New York Stock Exchange, its market value is now a tenth of that.
Simpson insisted the company has access to $800 million in potential funding to reach certification, at which point it will need to raise more to get into production.
Sceptics have long dismissed flying taxis as a futuristic chimera, and many firms have gone bust trying. Yet at Farnborough this week, some of the biggest buzz surrounded not just Vertical but its American peers Joby, Archer and Beta Technologies, all with a significant presence at the show.
