PRESS RELEASE – 22/02/2023
SKYFLY TECHNOLOGIES LTD – skyfly.aero
Contact information:
Adam Landau – Head of Communications
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Air Courtage Assurances partners with Skyfly and becomes world’s first to insure private eVTOLs
-
-
- Air Courtage Assurances (“Air Courtage”) is to provide the world’s first eVTOL insurance product, exclusively for clients of the Axe VCA (Vertically-Capable Aircraft)
- Working with national light aircraft bodies, Air Courtage provides insurance solutions for thousands of aircraft builders and operators.
- Air Courtage has designed official in-house insurance coverage for members of the UK Light Aircraft Association (LAA), which is expected to be the first organisation to certify the Axe VCA
-
“With series production underway for the Axe VCA and our first customers due to receive their aircraft next year, we turned to Air Courtage – the insurance broker of choice for the UK LAA – to develop a bespoke insurance product for owners of our Axe VCA. Air Courtage immediately understood the unique aspects of our design – with its four wings, 8 fixed-angle motors, and ballistic parachute – and the resulting greater safety. The four wings enable the Axe to fly like a fixed-wing airplane whilst it is also able to fly like a helicopter, taking off and landing vertically. Air Courtage used this to make the case to their underwriters – no easy task with an entirely new kind of aircraft, but it helps that the Axe is demonstrably safer than both airplanes and helicopters. Air Courtage is innovative, has a can-do mentality and relishes the challenge of enabling the global eVTOL revolution and sustainable aviation.”
– Jaap Rademaker, CCO, Skyfly
Formed in 1999 and based in France, Air Courtage Assurances currently insures approximately 26,000 aircraft in Europe, of which almost half are “kit-built” or light aircraft like the Axe VCA. The company has an impressive track record of providing insurance solutions for representative General Aviation bodies across Europe, including the RSA (Fédération du Réseau du Sport de l’Air, the French association of vintage and home-built aircraft), NVAV (the Dutch Experimental Aircraft Association) and ILAS (Irish Light Aviation Society), among several others.
Air Courtage is also the insurer of choice for the United Kingdom Light Aircraft Association, which is expected to become the first national body to certify the Axe eVTOL in 2024. As such, many Axe VCAs are likely to operate on the LAA register. Air Courtage’s existing deep partnership with the UK LAA means that LAA-registered Axe VCAs should automatically qualify for Air Courtage’s LAA-wide insurance offering, allowing Axe owners to get insurance enabling them to fly their personal Axe VCA straight away.
“We are strongly convinced we have to play a role to enable aviation-related innovative and meaningful projects to thrive in the face of the many challenges stakeholders face. The Axe VCA by Skyfly fits perfectly in our global strategy to package, with our insurance partners, the right solutions for the future needs of aviation. Skyfly recognised that, with over 26,000 aircraft of any type, 30,000 pilots and more that 1,600 UAV operators already insured through Air Courtage, Air Courtage was the right partner to create the right insurance product for Axe owners and give them peace of mind in flying properly insured.”
– Caroline Cognet Renard, Group CEO, Air Courtage Assurances
As there is not an off-the-shelf insurance product currently in existence for private eVTOL aircraft, Air Courtage’s product, tailor-made for the Axe, is further recognition of the Axe’s high standards of safety and its broad market appeal.
Air Courtage will underwrite the Axe VCA insurance with one of the world’s largest insurers, whom Air Courtage has worked with on an extensive risk analysis. This process has been made much easier because of the Axe’s many layers of safety redundancy, but also because the Axe is a fully-functioning fixed-wing aircraft, which insurers are already familiar with.
“This is the first aircraft of its kind that links the known personal fixed–wing aircraft environment with the real novelty of electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. From the specifications presented, this aircraft can glide. In that regard, it provides extra layers of safety which both insurers and users appreciate. We also like the aeronautical expertise and clarity of the team at Skyfly and this helped us to create a product.”
– Laurent Détroyat, Strategic Commercial Development Lead, Air Courtage Assurances
“Thanks to the thoroughly calculated, clear and transparent information provided by Skyfly, we have been able to find a leading global player in the insurance industry ready to accompany us to manage the risk of this project. Insurance is all about safety, ‘low loss -ratio’ and the project proposed by Skyfly is good enough to have a partner following”.
– Maud Badot, Skyfly Project Manager, Air Courtage Assurances
To find out more about the Axe visit www.skyfly.aero
To watch a video of our prototype flying, visit our YouTube channel.
The Axe VCA by Skyfly
You have arrived. Faster, cleaner, safer, smarter.