Vertical Aerospace has secured a pre-delivery payment for the reservation of aircraft delivery slots from leading Japanese trading and investment conglomerate, Marubeni. Marubeni has reserved aircraft delivery slots for 25 out of its up to 200 VX4 conditional pre-orders.
Stephen Fitzpatrick, Vertical Founder and CEO, said: “We are delighted to have reached the next milestone in our partnership with Marubeni. Japan is a wonderful country which is embracing the promise of eVTOL, as it will connect cities and regions like never before. We look forward to our joint efforts to build the ecosystem for zero-emissions travel in Japan.”
Satoshi Takechi, General Manager, Aviation, Space & Defense, said: “We are proud to have taken another major step with Vertical Aerospace to introduce VX4 in Japan. I am confident that our continued joint efforts with Vertical Aerospace, such as evaluating the requirements for eVTOL operations and engaging the potential partners under the Joint Working Group, together with this new agreement, will accelerate the development of the AAM market in Japan.”and becomes Vertical’s first customer in Asia to make a pre-delivery payment.
Vertical and Marubeni previously announced a partnership in September 2021 for conditional pre-order options of up to 200 aircraft, and joint evaluation of the requirements for eVTOL aircraft operations in Japan, as well as commercial considerations such as route and network planning and infrastructure requirements.
Marubeni has also conducted proof-of-concept (POC) demonstration trials from Osaka heliport to Wakayama using existing helicopters at future expected AAM service prices.