Eve Air Mobility, the advanced air mobility subsidiary of Brazilian planemaker Embraer, said on May 21, 2026 that it has completed the hover and low-speed phase of flight testing for its full-scale engineering prototype. The milestone clears the eVTOL for ground tests and a transition flight campaign that the company expects to begin in July or August 2026.
59 flights and more than 100 test points
Across 59 flights, the prototype logged two hours, 27 minutes and 33 seconds of airtime while completing more than 100 individual flight test points, according to Eve. The aircraft reached 215 feet above ground level on its highest flight and stayed aloft for three minutes and 48 seconds on its longest sortie. The campaign builds on the prototype's maiden flight in December 2025 at Embraer's Gaviao Peixoto facility in Sao Paulo, and reflects the incremental envelope-expansion approach Eve has followed since.
Validating control laws before transition
The first part of the block validated the eVTOL's control laws, downwash effects, thermal behavior and propulsion model at speeds below 15 knots, before expanding to roughly 20 knots of ground speed with simultaneous four-axis maneuvers designed to confirm aerodynamic and load models. Notable firsts included demonstrations of autoland and the aircraft's simplified fly-by-wire mode, a backup layer that activates if the normal flight-control mode becomes unavailable. Eve added that recorded noise levels stayed in line with expectations while propulsion and battery performance exceeded predictions.
"Closing this phase validates the discipline behind our flight test strategy," said Johann Bordais, chief executive of Eve, citing stable hover performance and predictable control behavior. Marcelo Basile, the company's head of tests, said the data gathered would help refine aerodynamic, propulsion and load models ahead of the transition phase, which is intended to validate how the aircraft's eight vertical lifters synchronize with its pusher propulsion system before cruise testing begins.
Road to 2027 certification
Eve is targeting type certification with Brazil's civil aviation authority, ANAC, in 2027. The company plans to build six conforming prototypes for the certification campaign and is producing the aircraft at a dedicated plant in Taubate, Sao Paulo, where capacity is designed to scale modularly toward an annual run rate of up to 480 aircraft. Its order backlog has continued to grow ahead of certification, including a February 2026 letter of intent from Japanese operator AirX for two eVTOLs and earlier agreements with operators in Brazil and the United States.
Part of a wider air-taxi push
The progress lands as the broader electric air-taxi sector moves from prototypes toward commercial service. Cities are already preparing ground infrastructure, as seen when Dubai opened the world's first commercial vertiport for eVTOL air taxis, while aerospace incumbents lean on advanced engineering tools, including GE Aerospace's use of generative AI to design a hypersonic ramjet. Autonomous-flight specialists such as Reliable Robotics, which raised $160M for autonomous aircraft systems, are pursuing complementary paths to bring new aircraft to market.
Reporting based on coverage from AeroTime and Embraer's Eve Air Mobility.