Airbus has unveiled its full electric CityAirbus NextGen prototype to the public, ahead of its maiden flight later this year. The two-tonne class CityAirbus, with a wing span of approximately 12m, is being developed to fly with a 80km range and to reach a cruise speed of 120km/h, making it perfectly suited for operations in major cities for a variety of missions.

The unveiling coincided with the opening of the new CityAirbus test centre in Donauwörth, Germany, which will be dedicated to testing systems for electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles (eVTOLs). The centre, which is part of Airbus’ ongoing and long-term investment in Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), began its operations with the CityAirbus NextGen’s power-on in December 2023 and it will be now used for the remaining tests required before the prototype’s maiden flight later in the year. These tests cover the electric motors with their eight rotors as well as the aircraft’s other systems such as flight controls and avionics.

Balkiz Sarihan, head of urban air mobility at Airbus, said: “Rolling out CityAirbus NextGen for the very first time is an important and very real step that we are taking towards advanced air mobility and our future product and market. Thank you to our community, team and partners all over the world for helping us make this a reality.”

At the same time, Airbus is expanding its global network and partnerships to create a unique ecosystem that will foster a successful and viable AAM market. Airbus recently signed a partnership agreement with LCI, a leading aviation company, to focus on the development of partnership scenarios and business models in three core AAM areas: strategy; commercialisation; and financing.