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SkyDrive Receives Pre-order for its SD-05 eVTOL Aircraft from MASC General Incorporated Association, to support routes to Japan’s Setouchi Islands

Sky­Drive and MASC Gen­er­al Incor­po­rat­ed Asso­ci­a­tion (MASC) has signed an MoU for the pre-order of its Sky­Drive’s SD-05 eVTOL air­craft for com­mer­cial use. The agree­ment marks a sig­nif­i­cant step for­ward in the devel­op­ment of advanced air mobil­i­ty (AAM) tech­nol­o­gy in the region.

Both com­pa­nies will col­lab­o­rate close­ly to devel­op com­mer­cial oper­a­tions and explore poten­tial sub­ur­ban routes for the SD-05 eVTOL air­craft.

The part­ner­ship aims to ful­ly deploy air­craft in the Setouchi Islands, with the involve­ment of local stake­hold­ers, con­tribut­ing to the region’s eco­nom­ic growth and sus­tain­able devel­op­ment.

MASC, a gen­er­al incor­po­rat­ed asso­ci­a­tion ded­i­cat­ed to pro­mot­ing aer­i­al tourism in Setouchi Islands using eVTOL air­craft, has estab­lished a new ded­i­cat­ed exhi­bi­tion hall with a per­ma­nent dis­play of an eVTOL in Kurashi­ki-city.

The exhi­bi­tion hall serves as an edu­ca­tion­al show­room for the indus­try and aims to devel­op an indus­tri­al clus­ter in the Mizushi­ma dis­trict of Kurashi­ki City, Okaya­ma for AAM tech­nol­o­gy.

This is the sec­ond part­ner­ship Sky­Drive has announced this week. The MoU with MASC fol­lows on from the news that the Japan­ese eVTOL OEM will work with Kan­sai Elec­tric Pow­er Com­pa­ny to devel­op the charg­ing infra­struc­ture need­ed for eVTOL air­craft at the 2025 World Expo in Osa­ka. Sky­Drive has been select­ed as a com­pa­ny to par­tic­i­pate in the Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty (AAM) project at the event.

Sky­Drive is cur­rent­ly devel­op­ing a three-seater elec­tric, ver­ti­cal take­off and land­ing air­craft called ‘SKYDRIVE. Its eVTOL is in the process of acquir­ing its cer­ti­fi­ca­tion from the Japan Civ­il Avi­a­tion Bureau (JCAB).

Sky­Drive plans to begin pro­duc­tion of ‘SKYDRIVE’ in the Spring of 2024 at the plant owned by offi­cial pro­duc­tion part­ner Suzu­ki Motor Com­pa­ny. The com­pa­ny suc­ceed­ed in the first crewed eVTOL flight test in Japan in 2019.

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Jason Pritchard

Jason Pritchard is the Editor of eVTOL Insights. He holds a BA from Leicester's De Montfort University and has worked in Journalism and Public Relations for more than a decade. Outside of work, Jason enjoys playing and watching football and golf. He also has a keen interest in Ancient Egypt.

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