By Brazil Stock Guide – Eve Air Mobility (B3 EVEB31), the urban air mobility arm of Embraer (NYSE ERJ; B3 EMBR3), has completed the first flight of its full-scale, uncrewed eVTOL prototype, marking a critical technical milestone in the development of electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. The hover flight took place at Embraer’s test facility in Gavião Peixoto, São Paulo, confirming the integration of key systems such as the fifth-generation fly-by-wire architecture and the aircraft’s dedicated lift rotors.
The inaugural flight opens the company’s formal flight-test campaign after several years of ground tests and system integration work. According to Eve, the aircraft behaved as predicted during the hover phase, allowing engineers to validate energy management, dynamic response and external noise levels. The company plans to carry out hundreds of flights throughout 2026, progressively expanding the flight envelope toward transition and fully wing-borne cruise, a decisive step in the certification process.
Chief Executive Johann Bordais said the flight confirms the technical roadmap adopted by the company and provides high-quality data to guide the next development phases. Eve plans to manufacture six conforming prototypes to support its certification program, reducing risk as the aircraft moves closer to commercial readiness.
From a regulatory perspective, Eve is working closely with Brazil’s civil aviation authority, ANAC, which acts as the program’s primary certifying agency, while also coordinating with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency as validating authorities. The company expects to achieve type certification, begin deliveries and launch commercial operations in 2027.
Executives say the focus is now shifting from concept validation to operational maturity. Chief Technology Officer Luiz Valentini noted that the flight confirmed the integration of the eight lift rotors and control laws, enabling a disciplined progression toward transition flights. Chief Product Officer Jorge Bittercourt said the milestone clears the way to refine the aircraft around operator priorities such as reliability, efficiency and simplicity.
The program has also received backing from Brazil’s development bank BNDES, which has already approved R$ 1.2 billion (about $240 million) in financing for the project, reinforcing institutional support for Embraer’s urban air mobility strategy and easing funding risk as the aircraft enters the capital-intensive certification phase.
Eve’s development program draws heavily on Embraer’s five-decade track record in aircraft design, certification and global support. As competition intensifies in the urban air mobility sector, the successful first flight places Embraer’s Eve among a small group of developers that have advanced to full-scale flight testing — a key credibility marker with regulators, investors and prospective operators.
