Airbus Helicopters will pause activities on the CityAirbus NextGen electric air taxi once its flight-test campaign is complete, believing key technologies are not ready to support the launch of a new development programme.
Chief executive Bruno Even, briefing journalists on the company’s full-year order performance on 27 January, said “we do not see the conditions being there” for a programme launch. The decision was taken after a strategic review at the end of 2024, he added.
Even says that, in particular, battery maturity is not sufficient to support the mission proposed for CityAirbus NextGen – carrying four passengers on routes of 80-100km (43-54nm).
Batteries will “need to continue to improve in performance”, he says, a process that will not be complete “in the near future”.
“That is why we consider the conditions to launch a new programme are not there,” Even adds.
When it disclosed the demonstrator in 2021, Airbus Helicopters had hoped to be able to launch a programme for service-entry towards the end of this decade.
First flight of the CityAirbus NextGen demonstrator took place in November at the manufacturer’s site in Donauworth, southern Germany.
Even says the aircraft will continue to fly throughout 2025 so the airframer can ”really take the benefit of the lessons around the new architecture and technology on board”.
Those technologies can be deployed “across Airbus”, he says, whether on fixed- or rotary-wing platforms.
