SkyDrive has taken new investment from Tobu Railway Co. Ltd. and Tobu Top Tours Co. Ltd., making the Tobu Group its fifth Japanese railway partner and giving the electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) developer a base for vertiports, ticketing and tour packages in the Kanto region around Tokyo ahead of the commercial services it plans for 2028.

SkyDrive announced the funding, made through a third-party share allotment, in a press release dated November 12, 2026, from Toyota City, Japan. The company did not disclose the amount. The partners say they aim to speed up commercial eVTOL deployment in Kanto by combining Tobu Group’s transportation and tourism assets with SkyDrive’s aircraft development and operational expertise.

What each Tobu company brings

The release sets out three areas of work. Tobu Railway will use its rail network, regional presence and tourism assets, especially in the Nikko area, to establish and promote vertiports. The partners will also use Tobu Railway’s “SAKULaLa” common biometric authentication platform, which Tobu Railway developed jointly with Hitachi, Ltd., for identity verification and boarding pass clearance.

Tobu Top Tours will act as an operational connector, using its destination management expertise and municipal networks to design new business models and to package secondary transport. The partnership covers business development and ground infrastructure planning across Kanto.

Tomohiro Fukuzawa, founder and CEO of SkyDrive, said the company is “thrilled and deeply encouraged that Tobu Railway and Tobu Top Tours share our vision for the future.” He said eVTOLs need more than aircraft, namely connections to transit networks, vertiports and regional travel experiences, and that SkyDrive and the Tobu Group “will work toward launching commercial services in 2028 to make air mobility a daily choice.”

A rail-first network strategy

SkyDrive has built its domestic plans around railway operators, working with major Japanese railway companies on urban networks that combine train travel with eVTOL flights. Before Tobu, SkyDrive had partnership agreements with four railway companies, each tied to specific routes: Kintetsu Group Holdings in the Ise-Shima area; Osaka Metro, with its “Osaka Diamond Route” linking four key locations in Osaka; East Japan Railway Company (JR East), for routes between Morioka and AZUMA FARM KOIWAI; and Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu), in Oita Prefecture, including the Beppu and Yufuin hot spring areas. SkyDrive says it has worked with these operators on feasibility studies and flight demonstrations.

In October 2025, ahead of the Japan Mobility Show 2025 in Tokyo, SkyDrive announced an exhibit built around a boardable mockup of its SD-05 aircraft, entered through a touch-and-go automatic ticket gate, alongside panels showing planned flight routes. The company said at the time that the aim of the railway partnerships was convenient travel combining rail and urban air mobility, along with regional development and public acceptance of the technology. The Tobu agreement brings that model to Kanto.

Where SkyDrive stands

SkyDrive, based in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, began testing eVTOL prototypes in 2014 and was incorporated in 2018. In 2019, it says, it became the first company in Japan to fly a crewed eVTOL. It flew uncrewed demonstration flights at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, and says it is now working through certification steps toward type certification. It is commercializing with local partners and municipalities in 10 countries.

Manufacturing rests on an automotive partnership. SkyDrive and Suzuki Motor Company signed a commercial and technology partnership in March 2022, SkyDrive set up the manufacturing subsidiary SkyWorks in September 2023, and production began in March 2024 at a Suzuki Group plant in Iwata City, Shizuoka Prefecture. Suzuki has also invested in SkyDrive and supports its business development in India, and Naoki Ishii, Representative Director and Executive Vice President of Suzuki, was appointed an independent SkyDrive director.

The Tobu funding is one of several announcements SkyDrive has made since late October 2026. Its news page lists a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with six Singapore technology companies on advanced air mobility research and development on October 29, 2026, and an MOU with Goyang Special City and Verty on commercial eVTOL deployment in South Korea on November 4, 2026. In Kanto, the Tobu partnership is meant to support SkyDrive’s 2028 service plans for the SD-05.

Natilus has commissioned Composites Universal Group to build the carbon fiber wings for the full-scale prototype of KONA, its blended-wing-body (BWB) regional freighter, with delivery to Natilus promised in spring 2027. The San Diego company said the wings will then go through coupon, bond joint and limit load testing before the aircraft’s full-scale demonstration flight.

Natilus announced the contract in a press release dated November 11, 2026. The wing build follows the U.S. Air Force’s recent $3.5 million in research and development funding to accelerate KONA toward full-scale flight testing, and the company calls the contract a vital step in bringing KONA to market for cargo and defense applications.

A conventional wing for an unconventional aircraft

Composites Universal Group, which has worked with Airbus Defense & Space, Boeing, Archer Aviation and SpaceX, will build the wing at its Oregon facility. It has set up a streamlined tooling process that Natilus says is meant to reduce costs and speed up the timeline.

The two companies say they will reuse existing engineering, emulating traditional tube-and-wing production such as the Beechcraft King Air series at Textron Aviation and other certified transport and cargo aircraft. KONA’s wing uses a conventional spar-and-rib layout, the same basic structure flown on certified aircraft for decades. It will use FAA-standard aerospace materials and a cable-and-pulley flight control system, and it will be a “dry” wing, meaning it carries no fuel tanks.

Where current wings are typically aluminum, the KONA wings will be carbon fiber, which Natilus says offers reduced corrosion rates and fatigue resistance over time. The design needs fewer parts and fasteners, cutting riveted panels and thousands of drilled holes. Combined with aerodynamic improvements and 40% additional payload capacity, Natilus says it is aiming for a de-risked, cost-effective aircraft.

Aleksey Matyushev, CEO of Natilus, said KONA’s blended wing “may look different than any plane on the market today,” but that the wing build uses off-the-shelf technology. He said the company is committed to meeting the quality standards that freighter customers and the U.S. Air Force expect and require. Steve Ruege, co-founder, President and CEO of Composites Universal Group, pointed to his company’s experience building aircraft ranging from electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to unmanned systems.

Where the KONA programme stands

The wing contract is the latest step for a programme that has drawn both commercial and military interest. In October, AirPro News covered the Air Force award for KONA, which Natilus describes as funding for dual-use KONA aircraft for contested logistics.

When it announced its $28 million Series A round in February 2026, led by Draper Associates, Natilus said the money would finish the first full-scale KONA prototype, which it expected to fly within 24 months. The company described KONA as optionally piloted with a 3.8-ton payload, able to land on shorter, gravel runways and to support intra-theater lift, Agile Combat Employment and logistics resupply in the Indo-Pacific.

Natilus said in February that it is pursuing FAA Part 23, Amendment 64 certification for KONA and was choosing a 250,000-square-foot manufacturing site to build 60 KONA per year, with the first KONA due later this decade. It reported an order book of 570+ aircraft valued at $24 billion, with reservations from SpiceJet, Nolinor Aviation, Flexport and Ameriflight. The company, founded in 2016, also plans a passenger aircraft, HORIZON EVO, for the early 2030s.

Natilus says its aircraft use existing engine technology and vertical tails for control and stabilization, and are designed to work with current gate operations and airport infrastructure. In its company description, it claims a 30% reduction in fuel consumption, a 50% reduction in operational costs and a 40% increase in payload capacity. Its team includes people from Boeing, General Atomics, Northrop Grumman, Skunkworks, SpaceX and Piper Aircraft.

For prospective operators, the next milestones in the release are wing delivery in spring 2027, ground testing of the wings at Natilus’s San Diego hangar, and then the full-scale demonstration flight. Natilus did not disclose the value of the wing contract, and the release gives no date for the demonstration flight.

DHL Express has signed a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) supply agreement with TotalEnergies whose initial phase covers 5 million liters over one year, for aircraft departing its hub at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). It is DHL Express’s first SAF use in France. The first SAF-powered DHL aircraft left CDG on November 9, 2026, the day the deal was announced.

In a press release dated November 9, 2026, issued from Bonn and Paris, DHL said it is the first express logistics provider to use SAF at CDG. The move coincides with the fifth anniversary of the Paris hub. DHL expects emission reductions of about 11,800 metric tons of CO2e a year in France, with the SAF flights running from CDG to its air hubs in Leipzig, Casablanca, Milan and London.

What the Paris agreement covers

DHL describes the deal as a first SAF supply agreement “over 5 million liters” for DHL Express air operations, and said its initial phase covers 5 million liters over the course of one year for aircraft departing the Paris CDG hub. DHL said the SAF is made from waste and residual materials such as used cooking oil, and works in existing aircraft and airport infrastructure without modifications. Compared with fossil jet fuel, it can cut lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by about 80%, depending on feedstock and production method.

The volumes will also be included in GoGreen Plus, DHL’s book-and-claim offering, which assigns emission reductions to customers even when their shipments do not physically travel on SAF. DHL said customers can use it to reduce their Scope 3 emissions. SHEIN signed a GoGreen Plus agreement with DHL Express in March 2026 to use SAF supplied by DHL for its international express air freight.

Travis Cobb, executive vice president of global network operations and aviation at DHL Express, pointed to the share of SAF already used in DHL’s own fleet:

“In 2025, SAF already accounted for 10% of the aviation fuel used across DHL’s own aircraft fleet”

Philippe Prétat, CEO of DHL Express France, said the opening of the Paris hub in 2021 marked a major milestone, and that SAF use shows that strong logistics performance and a lower carbon footprint can go together. Mathieu Soulas, director of new mobilities at TotalEnergies, said “Sustainable Aviation Fuels are a key lever for reducing aviation emissions today.”

How the deal compares with DHL’s SAF targets

At 5 million liters, the Paris deal is small next to the supply agreements DHL Express has signed elsewhere. In March 2022, DHL announced deals with bp and Neste for more than 800 million liters of SAF until 2026, which it described at the time as among the largest SAF deals in aviation. In May 2026, DHL Express signed an offtake agreement with SAF One for 25,000 metric tons of unblended SAF a year from a plant in Bahrain, with production planned for 2028.

DHL’s stated aim is to raise SAF use to 30 percent by 2030, a goal it restated in May 2026 and that also appears in the Sustainability Roadmap it cited in March 2022. DHL said in March 2026 that SAF accounted for about 10% of fuel consumption in its dedicated air fleet in 2025, up from 3.5% in 2024.

TotalEnergies has been expanding its SAF output in France. In a June 16, 2025 release, the company said it expects to produce more than half a million tons of SAF a year from 2028, to cover the increase in the European SAF blending mandate, set at 6% for 2030. It said its Grandpuits biorefinery would have capacity for 230,000 tons a year of SAF in 2026, and that SAF coprocessing had begun at its Normandy platform. The company said it supplies SAF-blended jet fuel to airports including Paris-Le Bourget, Bordeaux and Toulouse, and that Air France-KLM had signed a deal for up to 1.5 million tons of SAF over ten years.

The Paris CDG hub at five years

DHL opened the CDG hub in 2021 with a EUR170 million investment, which it describes as its largest in France since entering the country in 1976. The site occupies a 91,000-square-meter plot with 34,000 square meters of operational space, and its sorting system handles up to 38,000 parcels and documents per hour. The hub runs 24/7 and employs 760 people.

The AirPro Atlas lists 72,029,407 passengers at CDG in 2025.

DHL also cited ground-side measures in France. It said all of DHL Express France’s owned light commercial vehicles are electric, that it serves 55 French city centers with low-emission delivery modes, and that this supports DHL Group’s target of two-thirds last-mile electrification by 2030.