Vertical Aerospace has opened a 60,000 sq ft aircraft assembly centre at Cotswold Airport, establishing the manufacturing base that will build certification-conforming Valo aircraft before the electric aviation developer moves towards initial customer deliveries.
The £1.5 million facility takes Vertical Aerospace‘s footprint at Cotswold Airport to approximately 130,000 sq ft when combined with its existing flight test operation. Engineering, assembly, ground operations and flight testing can now take place within the same campus.
Vertical expects to begin assembling its first certification-conforming aircraft during the fourth quarter of 2027 as it works towards UK Civil Aviation Authority type certification in 2029. The aircraft will be used for compliance demonstration and verification rather than simply expanding the existing prototype fleet.
Certification manufacture places tighter demands on process control than prototype development. Configuration, assembly methods, documentation and traceability behind each aircraft have to support evidence that the production design consistently meets the standard being assessed by the regulator.
Stuart Simpson, Chief Executive Officer of Vertical Aerospace, said: “Opening our aircraft assembly center is an important step in Vertical’s transition from prototype developer to aircraft manufacturer.” The centre will also be used to modify one prototype for hybrid electric flight testing during the first half of 2027.
Following certification, the Cotswold operation is expected to support initial customer deliveries and has capacity to assemble more than 25 Valo aircraft annually during the early production phase. Higher volume manufacture is planned for a separate full-scale production facility, which Vertical expects to identify during the fourth quarter of 2026.
The staged arrangement limits the amount of factory capacity installed before certification is complete while giving the company enough manufacturing capability to build conforming test aircraft and early commercial units. Tooling, work instructions and assembly sequences developed in the Cotswolds can then inform the larger manufacturing system.
Assembly and flight testing on one campus also shorten the route between test findings and engineering action. Aircraft moving through final build, ground testing and flight evaluation remain close to the people responsible for design changes, manufacturing adjustments and investigation of test data.
Valo combines vertical lift with wingborne forward flight, requiring propulsion, batteries, power electronics, flight controls, structures and software to work across several operating modes. The manufacturing system has to integrate those elements repeatably while certification work continues to refine the final aircraft configuration.
The company is also involved in a UK digital twin programme aimed at improving eVTOL flight testing. The accelerator is developing live digital-shadow tools for industrial adoption, including the use of modelling and telemetry to identify limits and support faster engineering decisions.
Moving from prototype construction to repeatable aircraft manufacture changes the production problem considerably. A prototype can absorb extensive manual adjustment and individual engineering attention. Customer aircraft require controlled build times, repeatable processes, qualified suppliers and quality systems capable of operating as volume increases.
The initial Cotswold rate of more than 25 aircraft annually provides an intermediate step between those two environments. It is high enough to expose manufacturing bottlenecks and supplier constraints without requiring Vertical to commit immediately to the infrastructure needed for full commercial volume.
The UK aerospace supply base will form part of that transition. Electric aircraft remove some conventional propulsion hardware but add batteries, electric motors, power electronics and high voltage distribution while retaining established aerospace requirements for structures, controls, certification, traceability and airworthiness.
Vertical is developing hybrid electric and autonomous capabilities alongside the all-electric Valo programme, and the Ministry of Defence has expressed interest in those technologies. The Cotswold facility may therefore have to accommodate engineering changes across more than one propulsion or operating configuration while certification activity remains under way.
Certification is still targeted for 2029, leaving significant engineering and regulatory work ahead. Manufacturing decisions taken before then will determine whether the aircraft that passes certification can subsequently be built with the consistency, cost control and throughput expected from a commercial programme.
The industrial learning generated at Cotswold Airport should also feed directly into supplier planning for the later volume plant. Build hours, tooling wear, quality escapes, rework and component lead times will provide evidence that cannot be obtained from prototype aircraft alone, giving Vertical a firmer basis for sizing future equipment and staffing.
The new centre puts that question onto a physical production floor. Vertical has spent years proving that its aircraft can fly; the Cotswold operation now has to demonstrate that the design can be assembled repeatedly, documented properly and transferred into a larger manufacturing system.
