Rolls-Royce shuts down electric flying taxi operations

Aerospace engineering company has shelved its ambitions to take off in the eVTOL market

Rolls-Royce is shutting down its Advanced Air Mobility division. Photo: Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce has pulled out of the electric flying taxi business after the group's chief executive signalled the UK-based engineering firm would focus on profitable contracts.

Rolls-Royce's previous leader, Warren East, was very keen on developing electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles (eVTOLs), but Tufan Erginbilgic, who has been chief executive for almost two years, has been less enthusiastic, preferring to concentrate on profitable contracts and cutting costs.

It is a volte-face from the Farnborough Airshow six years ago, where Rolls-Royce unveiled a concept eVTOL, and stated that the company was “well placed to play a leading role” in the development of flying taxis. Three years ago Rolls-Royce created a spark around its electric flying ambitions when its Spirit of Innovation aircraft broke the electric air speed record by 120mph, reaching 345mph.

But the management's waning enthusiasm for eVTOLs became apparent when Rolls-Royce put its Advanced Air Mobility division up for sale last year and withdrew tech and monetary support from Vertical Aerospace, an eVTOL maker in the west of England. Now, having failed to find a buyer for the Advanced Air Mobility unit, Rolls-Royce has shut it down.

Losing altitude

Following hype from several companies at this year's Farnborough Airshow, some eVTOL makers have hit turbulence. Vertical Aerospace is looking for emergency funding and last month Lilium, the German eVTOL company whose aircraft have jets instead of rotors, filed for insolvency. The company has appointed KPMG to find it new investors, which it needs after the German government blocked its loan guarantees. In addition, while Lilium claims to have 780 aircraft orders from operators in the US, South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, these range from firm orders to memorandums of understanding, and the details of any deposits that the company has collected so far are unclear.

Nonetheless, while it appears some eVTOL companies are struggling to match their cashflows to their dreams of high-flying commercial success, the public perception is that flying taxis will eventually be a reality in urban skies, perhaps not so much in places such as New York or Rome, but certainly in cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi.