Vertical Aerospace (NYSE: EVTL) has secured long-term supplier agreements with South Korea-based ANH Structure Co., Ltd. and Germany-based Northrop Grumman LITEF GmbH to provide critical seating and navigation systems for its Valo electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

Announced in an October 16, 2026, press release, the contracts advance the Bristol, United Kingdom, manufacturer toward its goal of commercial production and certification by expanding an established Tier 1 aerospace supplier network.

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Securing critical cabin and navigation systems

Under the new agreements, ANH Structure will supply advanced aircraft seating systems for the Valo platform. The South Korean manufacturer holds European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Design Organisation Approval and Production Organisation Approval. The seating system incorporates 30G energy-absorption technology, a critical safety feature designed to protect occupants during high-impact events.

Northrop Grumman LITEF, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Corporation founded in 1961 and headquartered in Freiburg im Breisgau, will supply the LCR-110 inertial reference system. The technology provides essential navigation and sensor data required for the aircraft’s flight control systems.

Stuart Simpson, CEO of Vertical Aerospace, stated that the selection of both companies adds strength to the supplier ecosystem behind the aircraft.

“Valo is progressing from an advanced design into an aircraft supported by the people, systems and industrial capability needed for certification and production at scale,” Simpson said. “ANH Structure and NG LITEF each bring specialist expertise and strong certification credentials.”

Expanding the Valo production ecosystem

Vertical Aerospace officially launched the Valo eVTOL in London on December 11, 2025. The manufacturer is developing the aircraft under a single-platform strategy designed to accommodate multiple missions. The design encompasses four- and six-passenger cabin configurations, alongside electric, hybrid-electric, and autonomous variants intended for both commercial and defense markets.

The supplier agreements follow a series of industrial milestones for the company. On July 16, 2026, Vertical Aerospace signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Near Earth Autonomy to integrate autonomous flight systems with the Honeywell Aerospace Anthem digital cockpit on the Valo platform.

On September 25, 2026, the company opened a new 60,000-square-foot Aircraft Assembly Centre at its Flight Test Centre at Cotswold Airport. Supported by a £1.5 million investment, the facility is designed to assemble certification-conforming Valo aircraft and a hybrid-electric demonstrator. The site has the capacity to build more than 25 aircraft annually during early production phases.

ANH Structure and NG LITEF join an existing Tier 1 supplier network that includes Honeywell Aerospace, Sonaca, Evolito, Hyundai WIA, Synesqo, Isoclima, and Astronics.

Path to certification and market entry

Vertical Aerospace has accumulated approximately 1,500 pre-orders for the Valo aircraft. The customer backlog includes commitments from American Airlines, Avolon, Bristow, GOL, and Japan Airlines.

The company is currently working with the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to validate the aircraft’s design and systems. Vertical Aerospace has set a target of achieving Type Certification for the Valo by 2029, which will allow the manufacturer to begin commercial deliveries to its airline and operator customers.

AirPro News analysis

The transition from conceptual design to a locked supply chain is a critical filter for the electric aviation sector. By contracting with established aerospace entities like a Northrop Grumman subsidiary and an EASA-approved seating manufacturer, Vertical Aerospace is signaling industrial maturity to regulators. We note that the specification of 30G energy-absorption seating highlights the stringent crashworthiness standards the Valo platform must meet to satisfy certification authorities, which often exceed legacy rotorcraft requirements. As the company targets a 2029 certification date with the CAA, finalizing these Tier 1 supplier agreements is a necessary step to ensure the Cotswold Assembly Centre has the certified components required to scale production.

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Five things to try first

1. Open an airport you know. London Heathrow, for example: the wind on each runway right now, the latest weather report in plain English, local time, sunrise and sunset, upcoming events and our latest stories.
2. Turn on the jet stream. Tick “Jet stream now” under Filters to see the wind at three cruising levels, with streaks that move with it, and switch between FL300, FL340 and FL390.
3. Draw an aircraft’s range. Pick an airport and one of 90 aircraft types: the globe shades everywhere it can reach nonstop, as an A350-900 from Singapore shows.
4. Compare two airports. New York JFK against Heathrow: passengers, runways, elevation, the distance between them and the time difference.
5. Play today’s Pushback. A daily puzzle on the apron: move the ground vehicles out of the way so the tug can push the jet back, in as few moves as you can.

Airports, and the airlines that are actually flying

The Atlas places every large airport and every medium and small airport with scheduled flights: 4,044 airports in 234 countries, each checked against open data before it appears. Any two can be compared side by side. US airports also show any FAA delay in force, a link to the FAA airport diagram and the monthly on-time record.

An airline appears only while its aircraft have been seen flying in the last 30 days, using flight data from the community receiver network ADSB.lol. Its card lists the aircraft types seen flying for it, and its hubs light up on the globe. Airlines on the EU Air Safety List carry a note saying whether they are banned or restricted in the EU.

Conditions as they change

Several layers update through the day. Hurricane tracks shows every storm the US National Hurricane Center follows, with its forecast cone, its track and the coastal watches and warnings. The jet stream view shows the wind at three cruising levels from NOAA’s GFS weather model, with a new forecast every three hours. Weather hazards now shows the SIGMETs in force worldwide, from thunderstorms, severe turbulence and icing to volcanic ash, refreshed every 10 minutes. US delays now marks FAA ground stops and delay programs every 5 minutes, and space weather now shows the aurora forecast with what each level of NOAA’s scales means for flights. On the night side of the globe, NASA’s city lights come on as the sun sets.

The industry on one globe

For maintenance and training, the Atlas shows nearly 5,000 FAA repair stations with their ratings, the FAA’s pilot schools, training centers and maintenance schools, and the 614 approvals that EASA grants directly to maintenance, training and continuing airworthiness organisations, almost all outside the EU. It also carries aircraft and engine plants, aircraft storage sites, the head offices of 22 aircraft and engine lessors, 515 aviation museums and 186 active launch pads with a countdown to the next launch. An “All airfields” layer adds more than 68,000 other airfields, heliports and seaplane bases, and nearly 11,000 radio navigation beacons show their ident, Morse code and frequency, for information only.

Pages for every country and launch site, and ten rankings

Every country has its own page at airpronews.com/atlas/countries: its main airports, the airlines based there, its records, launch pads and events, the latest AirPro News stories from its airports and airlines, and how its aviation safety oversight is rated by the FAA and on the EU Air Safety List. The 51 launch sites have pages of their own at airpronews.com/atlas/launch-sites, with their pads and their next and latest launches. Ten rankings at airpronews.com/atlas/rankings list the busiest airports, US airports and airlines on time, the highest airports, the longest runways, the northernmost and southernmost airports, the countries with the most airports, the towns with the most FAA repair stations, the busiest launch sites and the rocket launch schedule.

Tools for planning, and for curiosity

The range map draws how far 90 aircraft types, from airliners to business jets, can fly from any airport, using each manufacturer’s published range. The distance tool gives the flight time, the time difference and an estimate of the CO2 per economy passenger, along with the countries under the route, sunrise and sunset along the way and, on polar routes, the chance of seeing the aurora. My flights map draws a reader’s own trips, which stay in their browser. Four themed tours fly over the hardest approaches, the highest airports, island airports and the Space Coast, and Share › Embed gives other websites the code to show any view of the globe on their own pages.

AirPro Games: 19 games, a new challenge every day

Every game has a daily challenge that is the same for every player, free play and leaderboards. Three arcade games lead. Carousel Run is a 3D runner through an airport’s baggage system, from the sorting hall to a winter apron with de-icing trucks at work, with ten Lost & Found treasures and 138 badges to collect. Boarding Rush is a puzzle in which groups of passengers file down the aisle and the player fills the cabin row by row. Pushback, a daily sliding-block puzzle on an apron, comes in three looks to choose from.

Sixteen quick quizzes follow, from the Airport Code Quiz and Code Breaker to Distance Guess, Spot It from Above, Hub Match, Can It Make It?, Rank It, the NATO Alphabet Sprint and the Launch Pad Quiz. A daily streak counts the days in a row a player completes a daily challenge, and the site checks every score sent to a leaderboard: it counts quiz answers again and replays arcade runs and puzzles move by move.

“We built the Atlas so that anyone in the industry, or anyone who simply loves aviation, can see it all on one globe and land on the story behind each place. The games are the fun side: nineteen of them, from a run through the baggage hall to a daily airport-code puzzle, each playable in a coffee break,” said Jeremy Comoglio, co-founder and editor-in-chief of AirPro News.

Built on open data

The Atlas is built from open data and from organisations’ own published information: OurAirports, Wikidata, NOAA, the FAA, EASA, Launch Library 2 and ADSB.lol among them. Its airport and airline lists are refreshed every week and its live layers every few minutes; every source is listed at airpronews.com/atlas/sources. It is for information only and must not be used for navigation or flight planning. Explore it at airpronews.com/atlas and play at airpronews.com/game.

BETA Technologies and Marshall University have activated a 320-kilowatt electric aircraft charging station at West Virginia International Yeager Airport (CRW), integrating advanced air mobility infrastructure directly into the university’s commercial pilot training program.

Announced in a joint press release on October 9, 2026, the installation of the BETA Charge Cube was marked by a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a demonstration flight of BETA’s all-electric ALIA conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) aircraft. The deployment expands BETA’s charging network in Appalachia and positions Marshall University’s Bill Noe Flight School to incorporate electric propulsion into its curriculum.

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Infrastructure and educational integration

The activation event drew more than 200 attendees to the Charleston airport. The newly installed 320 kW Charge Cube is multimodal, designed to power both electric aircraft and ground vehicles. By co-locating the charger at the Bill Noe Flight School, BETA and Marshall University aim to expose the next generation of aviation professionals to Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) technology.

Blain Newton, Chief Information Officer at BETA Technologies, emphasized the importance of building a comprehensive support structure for the emerging sector.

BETA is investing in the entire ecosystem that makes electric aviation possible: the aircraft, the charging network and the people who will fly and maintain them.

Marshall University Aviation operates an FAA Part 141 bachelor’s degree program in professional pilot training. The school utilizes a fleet of Cirrus SR20 aircraft and expects to reach an enrollment of 350 students at full operation, with a goal of producing 50 commercial pilots annually.

Bill Noe, Chief Aviation Officer at Marshall University Aviation, noted that the partnership provides a distinct educational advantage.

Investing in this complete technology ecosystem establishes Marshall University as an early adopter and regional leader in advanced air mobility education. By embedding electric propulsion, thermal management and modern flight controls directly into our flight and maintenance programs, we are ensuring our graduates are ready to lead the aerospace industry into the future while driving economic opportunity across Appalachia.

Expanding the Appalachian charging network

BETA is strategically building its charging network to connect rural and underserved communities, focusing on small and midsize airports that often have limited commercial air service. The company is currently deploying a network of over 130 charging sites globally.

In West Virginia, BETA charging sites are now online at Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport (MRB), Greenbrier Valley Airport (LWB), and CRW. An additional installation is planned for Huntington Tri-State Airport (HTS). These locations are specifically co-located with Marshall University campuses to maximize student exposure to AAM operations.

Newton highlighted the regional connectivity goals driving the infrastructure rollout.

With our first charger now online in West Virginia, we’re connecting the state to a growing network and laying the groundwork for new possibilities in regional transportation. We imagine a future where these aircraft connect small towns to hospitals, to jobs and to each other.

Advancing electric aviation and pilot training

BETA Technologies designs and manufactures electric aircraft, including the ALIA CTOL and vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) models. The ALIA aircraft family has accumulated more than 200,000 nautical miles in flight testing, which includes multiple cross-country trips across the United States. The West Virginia demonstration follows a recent deployment on October 7, 2026, where BETA flew its all-electric ALIA CX300 aircraft in Salt Lake City, Utah, to support the five-state uFLY Advanced Air Mobility initiative.

For Marshall University, the infrastructure addition represents a long-term investment in aerospace education. Brad D. Smith, President of Marshall University, framed the installation as a critical step for the institution.

This is a milestone moment for Marshall University Aviation as we look toward the future of aviation. Our aviation program is not solely about teaching students to fly; it is about preparing them to lead in one of the world’s most essential industries.

AirPro News analysis

We view the co-location of BETA’s charging infrastructure with Marshall University’s flight school as a pragmatic step toward solving the advanced air mobility sector’s future workforce constraints. By exposing student pilots and mechanics to electric propulsion and thermal management systems early in their Part 141 training, BETA is cultivating a pipeline of professionals already familiar with its technology ecosystem. This strategy also aligns with broader industry efforts to utilize electric aircraft for regional connectivity in underserved markets like Appalachia, where traditional commercial air service has steadily declined.