Vertical targets 25 Valos per year as assembly hall comes online

The 60,000 sq ft facility will build certification-conforming Valo aircraft, with assembly of the first expected to begin in Q4 2027.

Vertical Aerospace has opened a dedicated Aircraft Assembly Centre at its Flight Test Centre at Cotswold Airport, marking the company’s transition from prototype development and flight testing towards certification and commercial production of its Valo electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. The opening ceremony took place on National Manufacturing Day in the UK.

Supported by a £1.5 million investment, the Centre adds 60,000sq ft of operational and aircraft assembly space to Vertical’s existing Cotswold Airport campus. Combined with the Flight Test Centre, Vertical operates approximately 130,000sq ft at the airport across engineering, aircraft assembly, ground operations and flight-test activities.

The Aircraft Assembly Centre is the first stage of Vertical’s planned manufacturing scale-up. It provides the capacity required to build certification-conforming aircraft, which will be used for compliance demonstration and verification testing as Vertical works with the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) towards Type Certification in 2029. Assembly of the first certification-conforming aircraft is expected to begin in Q4 2027. The Centre will also be used to retrofit one of the company’s prototype aircraft for hybrid-electric flight testing in the first half of 2027.

At the Centre, Vertical will integrate Sonaca’s airframe structures, Evolito’s electric propulsion units, its proprietary battery systems and Honeywell Aerospace’s flight control and aircraft management systems into flight-ready aircraft. Locating assembly alongside engineering and flight-test operations will allow aircraft to move efficiently from final assembly through ground and flight testing, shortening feedback loops between manufacturing, engineering and flight-test teams.

Stuart Simpson, Chief Executive Officer at Vertical, says: “This facility gives us the capability we need to assemble our certification aircraft and support initial customer deliveries, while maintaining capital discipline as we prepare for higher-volume production.”

Fabrice Brégier, Chair of Vertical Aerospace, adds: “Having spent much of my career bringing complex aircraft programmes into production, I know how important it is to develop manufacturing capability in step with certification.”

Following certification, the Centre is expected to support Vertical’s initial customer deliveries, with capacity to assemble more than 25 Valo aircraft annually during the early-production phase. Higher-volume manufacturing will be carried out at a separate, full-scale production facility, plans for which Vertical expects to set out in Q4 2026. Vertical is also due to open its expanded Vertical Energy Centre later this year, which is expected to triple the company’s battery-production capacity over time.