Leeham News and Analysis
There's more to real news than a news release.
Eve Raising $230 Million To Support eVTOL Aircraft Development
From LNA’s partner at AIN:
By Charles Alcock • Managing Editor
EVE Advanced Air Mobility urban taxi created by an affiliate of Embraer. Credit: EVE.
Eve Air Mobility plans to raise $230 million in equity capital through a share offering that is set to close on Friday. The government-backed Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), along with Embraer and several institutional investors, subscribed to the offering of 47,422,680 shares in common stock, priced at $4.85 per share.
The offering includes new Brazilian Depository Receipts backed by BNDES that will be listed on the São Paulo stock exchange. Eve will use the proceeds from these to cover the cost of services performed in Brazil, where it is manufacturing the four-passenger eVTOL Eve 100 it is developing for service entry in 2027.
The full story may be read on AIN here.
ICAO Flags Safety Risks as Traffic Sets Record
By Amy Wilder • Writer
Global aviation safety trends remain positive over the long term, but the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) warns that accident and fatality rates rose in 2024 from the previous year despite record-breaking traffic volumes. The agency’s 2025 Edition Safety Report – State of Global Aviation Safety recorded 95 accidents involving scheduled commercial flights worldwide, up from 66 in 2023. Ten of those were fatal, resulting in 296 deaths—more than quadruple the 72 fatalities reported the previous year.
The full story may be read on AIN here.
Tariffs Force Pilatus Aircraft To Pause U.S. Deliveries
By Matt Thurber • Editor-in-Chief
Pilatus Aircraft is temporarily pausing deliveries of PC-12 turboprop singles and PC-24 twinjets to the U.S., due to high tariffs—39%—recently imposed on Swiss imports to the U.S. According to Pilatus, “The new trade tariff imposed by the U.S. authorities puts Pilatus at a significant competitive disadvantage. In the short term, the tariff will lead to a temporary halt in PC-12 and PC-24 deliveries to the U.S. Existing relationships with our U.S. customers and provision of services will continue seamlessly and in full.”
The full story may be read on AIN here.
Bjørn extensively analyzed and calculated the typical ranges, costs, and challenges of electrically powered vehicles such as the four-passenger eVTOL Eve 100.
We have a clear view of what is and isn’t possible today: breakthroughs in battery capacity, ATC safety, pilot training, and payload–range are highly desired and urgently needed, but remain unavailable—and even if they emerged, certification would be extremely difficult.
Still, there is a strong drive to support, believe in, and stimulate innovation in order to address the environmental challenges and consequences that few still deny.
Yet I hope these investments are not primarily driven by moral compensation, alignment with political agendas and subsidies, or the need to maintain appearances.
Who truly believes the four-passenger Eve 100 will be in service by 2027? I suspect that even Embraer’s engineers would prefer to look the other way, shift the conversation, and fall back on carefully crafted general statements when asked directly.
My personal hope is that the resources and knowledge gathered through these eVTOL programs will ultimately contribute to electrification and the reduction of fossil fuel dependency across broader society. My fear, however, is that much of it will instead end up absorbed by the defense industry.
They’ll have micro turbines & won’t be moving rich passengers to an airport..