Vertical Aerospace Strikes Seat and Navigation Deals to Push Valo Flying Taxi Toward Certification

Bristol-based Vertical Aerospace has struck long-term agreements with two international firms as it pushes its Valo electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft toward certification and production. South Korean aerospace seating specialist ANH Structure will design, develop, certify and produce a bespoke pilot and passenger seating system for the four-to-six-seat aircraft. German navigation-systems maker NG LITEF, part of Northrop Grumman, will supply the inertial reference system feeding position, attitude and heading data to Valo’s flight-critical systems.

CEO Stuart Simpson said the two companies bring “specialist expertise and strong certification credentials,” adding that the deals support a strategy “to deliver one versatile platform across multiple cabin configurations and missions.” His framing: “Valo is progressing from an advanced design into an aircraft supported by the people, systems and industrial capability needed for certification and production at scale.”

The agreements follow the launch last month of an aircraft assembly facility at Cotswold Airport — a concrete step from prototype work to industrial capability. Vertical Aerospace was founded a decade ago by Ovo Energy boss Stephen Fitzpatrick and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021, putting it among the earlier eVTOL companies to go public.

Why it matters: eVTOL programs live or die on certification, and certification is won with supplier ecosystems like this one — certified seats, certified navigation, certified everything. Each signed deal de-risks the path to a type certificate, which is the real gate between demo flights and paying passengers.