Vertical Aerospace opens assembly site at Cotswold Airport

Vertical Aerospace opened an aircraft assembly centre on September 24, 2026, inside its Flight Test Centre at Cotswold Airport in southwest England. The company invested £1.5 million in the site, adding 60,000 sq.ft. (5,574 sq. meters) of industrial space. Its Cotswolds centre now totals 130,000 sq.ft. (12,000 sq.m.), roughly double the previous size.

Aircraft built there will feed into the Valo's certification programme with the UK Civil Aviation Authority. Once certification is reached, the facility will also produce the first customer aircraft.

Early production at the site is planned at more than 25 Valo aircraft a year. Vertical Aerospace says it is assessing other locations for a larger site and has secured UK government backing to put that future production facility on British soil.

The new centre will also assemble the first demonstrator using a hybrid-electric propulsion architecture. That design is intended to give the eVTOL more range and open up uses including military applications.