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Eve Air Mobility’s full-scale eVTOL prototype has officially checked 50 successful test flights off its bucket list as the company trudges deeper into the certification path. The air taxi is now preparing to actually prove its flight capabilities through envelope expansion missions before entering transition testing later this year.
The eVTOL first flew on December 19, 2025, logging just over two hours in the air in the four months since. That’s not a huge number on paper, but it’s also early-stage flight testing for a largely unexplored type of operation.
“Reaching 50 successful test flights with our engineering prototype is more than a technical milestone. It is clear evidence of the maturity of our program and the strength of the solutions we are building,” said Johann Bordais, chief executive officer at Eve. “Eve is uniquely positioned to deliver not only a high-performance eVTOL aircraft but also aftermarket services, operational and airspace solutions that customers and cities will require to deploy urban air mobility at scale.”
A big part of that full-circle approach comes from its background. Eve is a spin-off from Embraer’s innovation division, known as EmbraerX. This gives the manufacturer a more traditional certification-driven methodology in a sector that often leans startup-heavy.
Data taken from the eVTOL’s 50 flights feed into the next phase: development of a production “conforming” aircraft. Eve expects to build up to six of these to leverage in formal certification processes with the National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC).
Flight testing itself is also starting to move out of baby-steps territory. Eve will be expanding the eVTOL’s flight envelope by gradually increasing forward speed and digging into areas like energy management, controllability, vibration, and noise.
The next major leap is transition flight: shifting from vertical lift to forward wing-borne flight. This area has proven to be one of the more technically demanding parts of any eVTOL program. Eve claims that these tests will begin as early as later this year.
