Flying Taxis Are Coming: UK Opens First Electric Air Taxi Assembly Centre

The UK has moved a step closer to electric air taxis. Bristol-based Vertical Aerospace has opened a new aircraft assembly centre at Cotswold Airport in Gloucestershire.

The centre opened on 24 September 2026. It will build Vertical's Valo, an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft designed for short passenger journeys. Valo will carry four passengers and one pilot, with a planned range of around 100 miles and zero operating carbon emissions.

Vertical spent £1.5 million refurbishing a Second World War-era hangar that was later home to the RAF Red Arrows. The upgrade adds around 60,000 sq ft of assembly space and brings the company's total footprint at Cotswold Airport to about 130,000 sq ft.

The centre sits next to Vertical's existing flight test operations, so aircraft can go straight from assembly to testing. At first it will have capacity to build more than 25 aircraft a year. Vertical plans to announce a separate, larger production site later this year.

When Could You Fly in One?

Here is Vertical's current timeline:

• Q4 2027: assembly of the first certification-standard Valo begins

• 2028: flight testing of that aircraft

• 2029: target date for type certification

Before then, the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is developing the rules for eVTOL aircraft. Its eVTOL Delivery Model aims to have the framework for the first commercial passenger eVTOL flights in place by the end of 2028.

Could Air Taxis Change UK Travel?

Vertical plans to use Valo for short regional trips and airport transfers. One example it has highlighted is Canary Wharf to Heathrow in around 12 minutes, a journey that can take well over an hour by road.

For UK travellers, that could one day mean faster airport connections and less time stuck in traffic before a flight.

For now, flying taxis are still being developed and are not yet available to passengers. The Cotswold assembly centre shows the technology is moving from prototype towards production. Electric air travel in the UK is getting closer.

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