Alongside air taxi services and personal aviation, providing civil and commercial entities such as law-enforcement, emergency medical services and cargo providers with flexible aviation capabilities is a significant avenue of eVTOL development. Based out of Switzerland, Dufour Aerospace is seeking to capture both segments of the emerging market with the distinct capability profiles of its unmanned Aero 2 and piloted Aero 3 series platforms.
The Dufour Aero line consists of hybrid-eVTOL aircraft with tilt-wing designs. The unmanned Aero 2 platform is envisioned as servicing the wide variety of applications demanded of traditional UAV designs. The Aero 2 features a maximum takeoff weight of 208 kilograms (459 lbs), a payload potential of 40 kilograms (88 lbs) and range of 400 kilometers (216 mi).
Meanwhile, the larger, piloted Aero 3 platform is suitable for air taxi and emergency medical operations, amongst other roles. The Aero 3 can carry up to seven passengers and features a range of 1,020 kilometers (633.8 mi), cruising speed of 350 kilometers per hour (217.5 mph) and maximum takeoff weight of 2,800 kg (6,173 lbs).
Over 2023 and early 2024, Dufour announced the selection of a range of component manufacturers for its platforms and secured burgeoning partnerships with a range of international operators. The Aero 2 platform has been tapped by a consortium of Swiss entities to generate laser-scanned environmental data over the Swiss Alps and by European Medical Drone to fulfill transport operations. Meanwhile, U.S-based UAV operator Spright Drone Solutions received its first Aero2 X2.2 demonstrator in November, 2023. That same month, Danish partners Copenhagen Helicopter and Copenhagen AirTaxi signed a letter of intent for the acquisition of both Aero 2 and Aero 3 platforms for cargo and passenger services, respectively.
