Originally Posted by
helihub
The first US ops may be there, but eVTOL are already operating in China (Ehang). Other countries including UAE and Saudi Arabia are well ahead of US in this game.
But there still are no commercial flights even for EHang as they have not finished the CAAC AOC certification as of yet. But they will probably have the 1st commercial eVTOL ops if everything goes well and in several countries.
The Chinese are about 18 months ahead on the certification side as the FAA and EASA went in opposite directions which thankfully the FAA realized their error and now are in sync with the EASA on the Powered-Lift category. Add in the FAA/EASA route follows the ICAO guidance more than the CAAC. Regardless, I think the EHang ops will be more an ad-hoc service than a full blown scheduled service provider for the foreseeable future.