On releasing Vertical's third quarter 2022 financial results and a letter to shareholders, founder and CEO Stephen Fitzpatrick says: “We recently celebrated ‘wheels up’ with our VX4 aircraft a few weeks ago, which was an incredibly proud moment for the whole team. As we ramp up our flight test programme, with a close eye on capital spend, we are moving onwards and upwards. I look forward to sharing more news about our flight test programme in the coming months.”

3Q22 and recent operational highlights include the UK CAA issuing a permit to fly for the VX4 on 24 September, 2024; the full-scale VX4 prototype successfully lifted from the ground under tethered conditions with pilot Justin ‘Jif’ Paines on board. To date, under this permit, Vertical has undertaken 14 piloted flight tests and five and a half hours of continuous propeller turning test operations.

Amy Round joined as chief people office on 17 October. She came from Ovo Energy where she was director of talent, having previously spent nine years at Google running its EMEA people division.

The company has continued to progress its joint working group with American Airlines, collaborating on a framework for exploration of the future of AAM and potential markets for eVTOL operations in the US. As a result the timeline for entering into a master purchase agreement that will contain the final terms for the purchase of our aircraft has been extended by up to one year, to ensure it reflects the final corporate framework and outputs of the detailed operational planning.

3Q22 financial highlights show a net operating loss of £19m for the three months ended 30 September, 2022, compared to a net operating loss of £8m for the three months ended 30 September, 2021.

As of 30 September, 2022 Vertical had cash at bank and short term deposits totalling £145m that will be invested in the development of the company’s test and certification activities and in the people, systems and processes that support the company.

In August 2022, to support ongoing capital requirements, Vertical established an equity subscription line with Nomura that will allow it to issue up to $100 million in new ordinary shares. This facility is intended to provide flexibility around the timing of issuing new stock to minimise dilution.

And as of 30 September, 2022, Vertical had issued 1,103,863 ordinary shares using the equity subscription line for an aggregate gross purchase price of $8.9m, and up to $91.1m in aggregate gross purchase price of ordinary shares remained available for sale under the equity subscription line.

As to the financial outlook, the 2022 capital plan continues to remain on track, with net cash outflows to be used in operating activities in the fourth quarter of the year expected to be between £20m and £25m.