Today at the Airbus Summit event with subject “Pioneering Sustainable Aerospace” Airbus helicopter revealed the new design of CityAirbus “NextGen”. Airbus expect to start test flight of the prototype in 2023 and obtain the type certificate from EASA in 2025.
The new CityAirbus has wing surfaces for extra lift during cruise and eight propellors in fixed positions for lift and cruise. Noticeably the head of Airbus UAM Joerg Muller said in the discussion that the CityAirbus NextGen has “no movable surfaces and no tilting parts.” This can possibly mean that the aircraft simply leans forward at a specific angel of attack in cruising with the help of the eight lift propellors and without any propulsion dedicated to horizontal flight.
CityAirbus NextGen will have four seats, will have a range of 80 kilometers and cruise speed of 120 km/h.
The reply of the 1st day of Airbus Summit can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7WdCIkBQJs