AutoFlight has achieved the world's longest eVTOL flight in history with a distance of 250km/155 miles on a single charge of lithium-ion batteries. The flight took place at AutoFlight's eVTOL testing facility on 23 February and consisted of 20 circuits of a predefined flight track, with the Prosperity I aircraft remotely piloted from the ground by the flight test team.

The previous longest eVTOL flight was 248km set by Joby in 2021.

Interestingly, while the Generation 4 aircraft is fitted with the latest avionics, it also ran third-party avionics to record and verify the distance flown on ForeFlight, an independent system widely used in the aviation sector.

The flight is recognised as the longest fully electric aircraft flight in history, where the aircraft both takes off and lands vertically. This long-range test flight is a key milestone in the development of Prosperity I as it undergoes continued testing towards the company's goal of airworthiness certification in 2025 with EASA.

President Omer Bar-Yohay says: “This flight is both a great celebratory milestone and a testament to the team's incredible effort and progress in testing and incrementally pushing the aircraft's performance envelope. It's a remarkable achievement that shows our aircraft's capability, and we are excited to continue working towards our next goals all the way to EASA certification in 2025.”

The aircraft used in this record flight is the world's first look at AutoFlight's newest Gen4 model, which was penned by legendary designer Frank Stephenson, whose vehicle design portfolio includes iconic successes from brands including Ferrari, Maserati, McLaren, MINI and now AutoFlight.

AutoFlight's Prosperity electric aircraft uses rotors to lift the aircraft vertically for take off, then transitions to horizontal flight on the wing like a traditional aircraft. It is capable of speeds in excess of 200km/h over a range greater than 250km. AutoFlight is one of only a few eVTOL OEMs to have mastered the challenging 'transition phase' from vertical to horizontal flight and has done so hundreds of times, clocking thousands of flight miles on multiple iterations of its aircraft.