The Vertical Flight Society (VFS), the world’s leading non-profit organization working to advance vertical flight, reports that it has continued to experience steady growth in corporate members during the second quarter of the year, propelled largely by the continued expansion of electric aircraft developments around the world.
As of Oct. 1, 2022, a total of 180 companies and other organizations are now members of VFS, a net increase of 21 organizations from a year ago. This continues the record growth with a strong annual 13% increase, and is a doubling of the number of VFS corporate members from six years ago. Much of this growth is due to the extensive support efforts and resources that VFS provides to the vertical flight and electric flight community, including technical resources, advocacy, talent acquisition, educational opportunities, scholarships and networking.
“The electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft industry has matured significantly since VFS held the world’s first gathering of the nascent eVTOL community in 2014,” said VFS Executive Director Mike Hirschberg. “Over the past decade, more than $10B has been invested in eVTOL aircraft developments and the associated technology, and VFS is extremely proud of the promise and progress of our membership, which includes every major eVTOL developer around the world.”
The cohort of 3rd Quarter 2022 new VFS Corporate Members is listed below. Descriptions of each company, including links to websites and contact information, are found in the VFS Corporate Member Directory. Information on the benefits and rates for corporate membership are posted on our Corporate Membership page.
- Opener — Palo Alto, California, USA (Copper Class)
- Point Lighting Corp. — Simsbury, Connecticut, USA (Small Business Class)
- Murzilli Consulting — Bern, Switzerland (Associate Class)
- Odawara Automation, Inc. — Tipp City, Ohio, USA (Small Business Class)
- Ricardo Strategic Consulting — Van Buren Twp, Michigan, USA (Associate Class)
- AutoFlight Europe GmbH — Augsburg, Germany (Associate Class)
- The Gilmore Group, LLC — New York, New York, USA (Associate Class)
- AURA Network Systems — McLean, Virginia (Copper Class)
- Electro.Aero Pty Ltd — Jandakot Airport, Australia (Small Business Class)
In addition, VFS is very pleased to announce that Archer Aviation, Inc., one of the leading electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft companies, has increased its membership level from a Small Business Member to a Gold Member, the same level as GE Aerospace, Joby Aviation and Lilium. The Gold Membership Class is second only to that of the five major helicopter manufacturers — Airbus, Bell, Boeing, Leonardo and Sikorsky — which are VFS Platinum Members.
“We are seeing a remarkable expansion of research and development activity across the entire vertical flight industry which leading to many breakthrough rotorcraft and eVTOL aircraft designs,” added Hirschberg.
In January, VFS is holding its 10th Annual Electric VTOL Symposium (www.vtol.org/eVTOL2023), the largest and longest-running eVTOL event in the world. More than 500 attendees are expected for the hybrid virtual/in-person event in Mesa, Arizona, USA.
Since VFS began supporting the “Electric VTOL Revolution” in 2013, the Society has been the leading voice for the eVTOL community in industry, academia and government. VFS hosted the world’s first eVTOL technical meeting in 2014, launched the world’s first eVTOL eNewsletter in 2016, world’s first dedicated eVTOL website in 2017, the world’s first eVTOL short course in 2018, and North America’s first hydrogen aviation symposium in March 2022. Many of the key business relationships in the electric flight community were forged or strengthened through VFS events and resources.
VFS was founded as the American Helicopter Society in 1943 by the visionaries of the early helicopter industry, who believed that technological cooperation and collaboration were essential to support this new type of aircraft. Today, history is repeating itself, with VFS playing a similar role helping to advance today’s revolutionary electric aircraft. More than 6,200 individuals in industry, academia and government agencies around the world are members of the Vertical Flight Society.
This press release was prepared and distributed by the Vertical Flight Society.
