Vertical Aerospace, the Bristol-based eVTOL developer, moved the certification target for its production aircraft, the Valo, from 2028 to 2029 on 13 July 2026, saying the new date reflects the rigour of certifying an entirely new class of aircraft. The company, which flight-tests at Kemble in Gloucestershire, reported about 99 million pounds in cash in August, giving it at least 12 months of runway.

Vertical Aerospace is headquartered in Bristol, UK, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker: EVTL). It has not yet generated revenue from aircraft sales and employed about 460 people in March 2026. On 13 August it reported about 134 million dollars (99 million pounds) in cash and roughly 100 million dollars (86 million euros) of new financing commitments.

On 14 April the VX4 prototype completed a full two-way piloted transition at Kemble, with vertical take-off, forward flight on its wings and a vertical landing. Vertical says it is the second company in the world to do this in a full-scale tiltrotor eVTOL, and the VX4 flew publicly at Farnborough on five consecutive days in July in front of more than 140,000 visitors, the company said.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority is working towards a regulatory framework for initial commercial passenger flights from the end of 2028.

The later date sits alongside a build-phase push. Vertical’s new Aircraft Assembly Centre at Cotswold Airport is designed to assemble more than 25 Valo aircraft a year during early production.

The 2026 listings identified are build-phase roles: junior aircraft manufacturing engineer at Kemble, junior digital manufacturing engineer, junior stress engineer, aircraft mechanical technician, operations quality engineer and senior certification manager. The junior manufacturing engineer listing asked for a degree in engineering, manufacturing, operations, supply chain or a related field, with CAD experience helpful and CATIA a plus, and did not state a salary.

For the sector, the shift to 2029 and the focus on production engineers show a UK eVTOL developer building its manufacturing team as it works towards certification.

Source: AVI-GO / Soglos